


Smith Mountain Lake Retreat

by Buka2000



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Babies, Childbirth, Fluff, M/M, Mpreg, Surprise pregnancy, mentions of past Miscarriage, unassisted birth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:57:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22312291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buka2000/pseuds/Buka2000
Summary: Definite AUStory starts with chapter 2.  Chapter 1 has info you can come back to if you get lost or confused reading the fic.Would love suggestions on players you all would like to see included, may not get everyone but I'll try.-----During one season, Commissioner Bettman had started noticing a disturbing trend among the 31 teams in the NHL.  He became suspicious when there started to be multiple players out with lower body injuries, but there was no record of them being injured during a game.  He knew the reason for two players, but it was impossible to have multiple players on different teams in the same condition, right?  And in varying stages to boot.After consideration, and discussion with the respective teams, he devised a plan to open a retreat for those that were all in the same condition included with appropriate care, medical teams and close proximity to a hospital should things go wrong.  And after a few months of planning and preparation, he accomplished his mission.Welcome to Smith Mountain Lake Retreat
Relationships: Nicklas Backstrom/T. J. Oshie, Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin
Comments: 13
Kudos: 16





	1. Generic stuff

**Author's Note:**

> I am still in a funk, but trying something sort of fun and hopefully happy-ish. If not happy, maybe get a few smiles anyway. I'm not going for anything bad, but I do plan on rewriting the one fic I had written. This chapter is mostly just a who's who of everyone that is at the retreat, and I'm sure if you all have a keen eye you may figure out my plan with the lists.
> 
> Tags will be updated so I don't spoil anything
> 
> Anywho, please no flames. 
> 
> This is meant to be fun, and I'll have the guys separated by division and other things you will find out. I also have a plan for the second chapter, hopefully to start off the fun and other things
> 
> I plan on keeping this going if there is enough interest.

Some numbers may go up, and pay attention to the 0’s. I have plans ;) I’m not revealing who the expectant ones are, but they will be seen in chapter 2 or the official start of this. And craziness will start then. And some numbers may stay the same, I won’t spoil anything. And if my math is off, feel free to correct me. Ideas and player suggestions welcomed, I haven't even listed everyone. Only two pairs, so you will know who two couples will be. 

I will also not cover every single person, I'll have them mentioned in passing or like if the focus characters greet them, etc. And give hints if babies are born to the ones I'm not focusing on, I don't want to do a bazillion chapters. Anywho... info is below. 

**Atlantic**

Boston – 2  
Buffalo – 2  
Detroit – 2  
Florida – 2  
Montreal – 2  
Ottawa – 0  
Tampa – 0  
Toronto – 2

**Metro**

Columbus – 2  
Carolina – 2  
Islanders – 2  
New Jersey – 2  
Philadelphia – 0  
Pittsburgh – 3  
Rangers – 0  
Washington – 2 

**Central**

Chicago – 2  
Colorado – 2  
Dallas – 3  
Nashville – 2  
Minnesota – 2  
St. Louis – 2  
Winnipeg – 2

**Pacific**

Anaheim – 0  
Arizona – 2  
Calgary – 2  
Edmonton – 2  
Los Angeles – 2  
San Jose – 0  
Vancouver – 2  
Vegas – 2

**Groups**

2nd Trimester 

35

3rd Trimester

17

Surprises (I will say how many, but I am not saying player names. Numbers mean nothing here, or they could. Only I know as the fic goes on) 

8


	2. Welcome to Smith Mountain Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The players arrive at the retreat, the majority grateful for Bettman's idea so they could be away from the prying eyes of the fans, media and general populous of their respective team cities. 
> 
> Bettman himself is also present to welcome the players and give the jist of the retreat to everyone invited, along with mentioning special facilities which some players are not totally on board with.
> 
> However, during the first day of their stay there is already one unexpected event as well as players trying to find ways around Bettman's rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that aren't familiar with Virginia, Smith Mountain Lake is a large lake situated east of Roanoke, Virginia. It is a well known fishing spot, as well as a place to just relax and enjoy a long weekend or an extended break. The retreat mentioned is Vista Pointe Resort, right on the shore of the lake in Penhook, Virginia with access to main roads if an emergency arises. It's big enough to have everyone there, and private enough so the expectant players don't have to deal with hoards of fans or media bothering them. Also the surprises I mentioned will be fun ones, first one is in this chapter. 
> 
> If you all want particular players mentioned, I'll put them in. I just plan on focusing on a handful in this chapter and slowly introduce others so you're not overwhelmed with a bunch of guys. The players so far will be listed below this paragraph. I'll try to get to those that you all want mentioned, the first surprise will be mentioned in the second set of notes.
> 
> Players mentioned in this chapter: 
> 
> Patrick Kane - 6 months
> 
> Brandon Saad - 6 months
> 
> Connor McDavid - 6 months
> 
> Riley Sheahan - 7 months
> 
> Taylor Hall - 7 months
> 
> Evengi Malkin - 8 months
> 
> Kris Letang - 9 months
> 
> Alex Galchenyuk - 8 months
> 
> Johnny Gaudreau - 9 months, 2 days
> 
> Cam Ward - 8 months, 3 weeks
> 
> Auston Matthews - 6 months
> 
> Zach Hyman - 7 months
> 
> TJ Oshie - 6 months
> 
> Lars Eller - 7 months

“Okay… I guess we’ll see what the hell is going on right? Not that I’m complaining, it’s nice to be here with the birds, fish, and not a single reporter, journalist or sports writer around. Hell, even the fans have been starting to get pretty bad too.” Patrick muttered, walking down the sidewalk that led to the where the retreat was going to be, at least it was better than what was in his head. He was picturing run down cabins in the middle of nowhere and they’d have to use the lake for food and bathing. Or even use the woods for a bathroom… that thought made him shudder before he heard his teammate speaking.

“You know you like the attention, the last few months have been all Kane this, Kane that. And after you had your last game, it was what happened to Kane? He was on a run, then poof! Gone into thin air.” Brandon rolled his eyes, looking over at Patrick before he walked up to the group that was standing around, large suitcases being held next to them. 

“You disappeared too.” Patrick huffed, crossing his arms before he joined his teammate in joining the growing group. He recognized pretty much everyone present, and there were a couple of not so familiar faces as well. He then blinked, and almost laughed. “McJesus?! You too?! No way… how did that happen?” 

Connor shook his head, rolling his eyes after scanning the crowd. “I bet it happened to me the same way it happened to you. Alone one night with Jonathan, then 6 months later… of course I was with Leon.” 

“Funny.” Patrick sighed, glancing to see another Edmonton player, but they didn’t look pregnant. Maybe he was a partner to Riley who looked to be further along than Connor. He sighed, watching as the door opened from the smaller of the two buildings, followed by the appearance of Gary Bettman walking down the sidewalk and to a stand not far from where they were standing. “And of course, you two are never that far art from each other.” 

“Good afternoon, I’m sure you fine gentlemen are wondering what you are doing here today. I will explain everything, and do my best to answer any questions that you may have. Also please be assured that you all will be given the best care available.” Bettman started, hearing nothing but silence and maybe a few muttered curses but he chose to ignore the silence and turned to the crowd. 

“He won’t stay here with us will he?” TJ asked, staying closer to familiar faces than hang around with rivals. At least for now, he knew he had no choice in the matter once everyone left for wherever the partners would end up going. “There is no way in hell I want him anywhere around in a few months…” 

“We know he will be. As soon as the first baby is born, he’ll come swooping in and then press will swarm in and our retreat will be ruined.” Patrick replied, glancing over at his former rival. “We just have to tough it out if he is, or find a way to have our babies without all the fanfare we’re expecting.” 

“First off, I understand your concerns. We will have weekly checks for anyone that is 7 months along or later, private birthing areas and everything you all would need to be comfortable during your time here. A hospital will be available if our physicians say that a hospital birth would be safer than one in our facility.” Bettman spoke, gauging the reactions from everyone present.

“How private?” Brandon muttered, sighing as he moved his arms over his belly. “I say we just do it ourselves, in our rooms and then let others know what happened. I don’t trust the doctors… they’ll be on the phone in 10 seconds flat… ‘Mr. Bettman! Mr. Saad just went into labor!’ ” He rolled his eyes, watching Bettman.

“I came up with this idea due to the fact that most of you are very familiar names and faces for your respective teams, and more than likely under the microscope from fans, other teams and media alike. I want this to be an experience that you would be comfortable with, and not feel stressed by avoiding unwelcomed attention from outside forces.” Bettman added, knowing he had to also mention a few other things.

“That isn’t likely…” Taylor sighed, he was known but he wasn’t exactly a household name like an Ovechkin or a Crosby. “I say we all get together, figure out who is due around the same time and buddy up. That way we’ll still have support, especially since our partners are apparently banished and this is an all pregnant player get away…” 

TJ had to laugh at that, but nodded in agreement. “I’d have to agree with you there. Once the speech is over why don’t we all get together in the lobby or maybe meet at the benches by the lake shore. It’s nice out, so why not? Go with our respective due dates, and go from there. Those who are due first would be together and so on. And I agree with Branden and Taylor… it would be better to do it ourselves. Nicky hates the idea, but I told him that we would just listen to our body and go from there.” 

“You sure this is your first Osh?” Patrick grinned, but turned it into an actual smile toward his former rival. “I’m sticking with Branden, he’s due like a week after me. How that happened, I don’t know.”

Brandon laughed, looking over at TJ and Patrick before listening to Bettman drone on about why they were here, what rules were in place, stuff like that. “The same way it happened with all of us,Kaner. So we’re in agreement, meet by the benches?” 

“Those that want to. And the others can do whatever they would like also; I’m not going to force everyone to follow us of course.” TJ nodded, smiling a little toward Patrick. “Yeah, I’m sure. I just wanted to do it my own way, not have a million doctors hovering around you know?”

“Oh I know... I doubt we want to have doctors, Bettman and who knows who else hovering over us while we’re trying to deliver our babies.” Connor shook his head, hearing a few bits and pieces of what Bettman was saying but most he chose to ignore. It was known that most of the players didn’t really like him to begin with, so why listen to him? 

“One last thing before I leave you to your own devices, I will come back periodically or as time allows to check up on all of you. Those closest to delivery will take top priority in checkups and access to the private birthing suites if they so desire. Your partners will be allowed to return once the babies are born and you are fit to travel back to your homes. We don’t want undo distractions or cause any pain to those that have no partner. Good luck and I will see you all very soon.” Bettman spoke, soon turning away from the gathering then walked back down the sidewalk and into the building, disappearing from sight. 

Patrick rolled his eyes, watching Bettman disappear before turning to Connor. “Undo distractions… he’s an undue distraction. And we’ll be there to support whoever has no partner with them.” 

\-----

“Alright… we all know why we’re here right?” TJ asked, sitting down on one of the benches with Lars. “We figure out who is due first, and pair off when one gets close to their due date for support. Of course if anything does happen, then we have no choice but to get assistance. But are we in agreement that we want to do this as hands off as possible?”

“That’s right. And Bettman did say we were allowed to purchase food and necessary supplies, so I don’t see why we can’t get supplies for birthing while we’re out. Just hide them in our rooms and bring them out as necessary.” Connor replied, watching TJ and Lars before turning to the others around them. 

“Sounds good to me.” Patrick nodded, sitting across from TJ with Brandon. “Now how are we going to pull this off? Those that are due later have more time to plan this out, but those of us that are due in a month or less have less time. So they’d probably have to utilize the private birthing areas, and Bettman will know which ones are being used. How, I don’t know. But he probably has alarms or something to alert him to when the rooms are occupied.” 

“Good point. Okay, we’ll focus on those that are due the soonest and worry about those that are six months or less at a later time. Is that fair?” TJ asked, watching the young man from earlier out of the corner of his eye. He was slightly concerned, but shoved it aside for now so he could focus on them planning for the soon to be babies. 

“That’s fair.” Taylor nodded, rubbing the small of his back. “Okay, show of hands or speak up. Who is due in a month or less here? We know that Bettman will be watching you all like hawks, but like TJ said you are free to do whatever you want. We just don’t want a media circus around here if he knows that you all are due soon.” 

Patrick looked around, seeing three hands pop up. He stood up from his bench before walking over to them, checking everyone else as he walked past. Making sure that they were telling the truth, or if some didn’t want to let everyone know when they were due. “Okay… Tanger, when are you due? Same question goes for you Johnny and Cam.” 

Kris sighed, glancing over at Geno who had a smug look on his face. “Oh hush… you’re due like a month after me. My last doctor’s visit was before we came down here, and she said that it could be two weeks to any day now.” 

“So basically all hands on deck?” TJ asked, looking at his rival before resting his hands over his belly. “Okay, so Kris takes top priority in planning. You start planning on where you want baby to be born, or just let things happen and do it that way.” 

“I plan on just letting baby come wherever he or she wants to be born. Lunch room, lake side, wherever is fine with me. I don’t want to get too stressed out worrying about it too much. I have Geno, so I’ll be fine if I go into labor today or tomorrow.” Kris spoke, leaning back against the back of the bench. 

“I’m planning on the bedroom really, more comfortable and I can get supplies that we may have so the bed isn’t totally ruined. I have Noah with me for support. I know I’ll need it.” Johnny nodded, watching the two before he also leaned back against the bench. “I’m probably due the soonest, they said any day two days ago.” 

“I’m due a little before Geno, so you all don’t have to worry about me. Kris and Johnny need more attention from us; they could pop any time now.” Cam replied, offering a half smile toward the group. 

“Guess baby didn’t get the message huh?” Patrick smiled a little. “Okay, why don’t we all get settled and figure out who is going where. I’m sure it’s probably color coded in some cutesy thing… or signs pointing to different areas depending on how far along you are.” 

Kris laughed, standing up slowly before putting his hand on his back. “I wouldn’t doubt it. I know we have more to plan, but why don’t we all get some rest? We all had a long trip to get here no doubt. Geno and I also have to talk to Gally, see when he’s due. Don’t ask how three of us ended up pregnant.” 

Connor nodded, chuckling lightly toward the Penguin players before heading toward the larger building while watching Kris and Johnny head toward the areas where the private birthing section was. He figured the ones further along were in the smaller buildings that overlooked the lake and the ones earlier on were in the largest of the buildings that was situated next to the swimming pool. 

\-----

“What did we get ourselves into?” Patrick sighed, heading into a spacious room with Brendan. “This room is nice though, and I’m sure babies will be happy being born here. But I might go the same route that Tanger is going, wherever baby wants to be born, so be it.” 

“Labor can last forever though. Remember our classes? First time parents if we’re lucky it will go fast, or we’d be unlucky and it will last a day or more. And I don’t want to be sitting around for a whole day waiting for baby to say they’re ready.” Brandon smiled a little, sitting on the corner of the bed. “So I say we could walk around just doing our everyday routine when it starts, and when baby comes they come.” 

“I think I may like this place. I know we just got here, and a lot can change in a few months. But I like that we can choose on what we want to do, and just basically live our lives minus the hockey aspect. I do agree with you, if baby says they’re ready wherever we are, then we’ll just let it happen.” Patrick spoke up, moving to lie back against the pillow. 

“Exactly. And I know we’ll all do our best to hide from Bettman, only our partners should see our babies. Not him.” Brandon spoke, moving to lie down on the bed as well before closing his eyes halfway. 

\----

TJ decided to walk along the edge of the lake shore, watching the others mill around and acting like there really was nothing too strange going on. Well with the exception of quite a few pregnant hockey players ranging from 4 months to about to deliver. He was thinking about what he was going to do, and how he’d go about doing it without Nicky helping him. And he figured Lars would also be missing Tom, but he didn’t know how the other felt. He walked further along the lake shore before he saw the young man from before sitting on the sand. He tilted his head slightly to see what he was doing, but judging from his movements he looked to be very uncomfortable and kept switching positions to see what worked better. And he thought he saw the other tense up a few times when he stood still, then move again.

He moved a little closer to the shore, soon seeing the other stand up before he started pacing the shoreline, definitely appearing to be in discomfort and also a little lost on how to alleviate whatever pain he was feeling. Visibly he couldn’t see anything wrong, he didn’t see any cuts or anything too telling on what could be happening. Then he saw who it was, and was definitely concerned. “Morgan?” 

“Oh… hey. Don’t mind me, I’ve just been feeling off for a little while now after I dropped off Auston and Zach. Probably just slept at a weird angle, I’ll be okay.” Morgan replied, not really believing himself since even walking wasn’t helping him, it made things worse. He looked over at TJ, hoping he wasn’t going to be staying around him all day. He knew the other was probably tired, considering the long trip from DC to the middle of nowhere. 

“You sure? Of course there’s no problem if you wanted to see Auston and Zach, Bettman had no rules against friends visiting. It was only partners since he thinks they’d be a distraction, keeping us from paying attention to what we need.” TJ sighed, shaking his head. “Well we need them when our babies come… I want to do it unassisted, but I still need support you know?” 

“Of course. Support is definitely understandable, especially since it’s your first baby and you want Nicklas to be here so he doesn’t miss anything.” Morgan smiled, stopping for a few seconds before he went back to where he had been earlier. “I might sit back down and relax for a little bit okay? You don’t have to stay.” 

“If you say so. If I don’t see you later, I hope you’re doing okay and I’m sure we’ll meet again on the ice if not sooner.” TJ smiled, not really thinking anything of Morgan stopping and tensing up again, his breath didn’t seem to hitch or anything. He turned and headed off back toward the living areas, hoping that nothing was wrong with the other.

Morgan nodded, watching TJ head off before he caught himself doing small pushes again to try and alleviate whatever the pain was that he had been feeling. So far those seemed to work, so he resumed walking along the shore, moving a little further down before he sat back down on the beach, leaning back on his hands, sitting with his legs apart in a frog like fashion, that seeming to help the weird feelings he had been feeling as well. 

He breathed out slowly, watching the others walk by without much of a worry right now. He figured that Kris and Johnny were taking it easy and relaxing, which was a pretty good idea. Morgan just didn’t know what was going on, or why he was feeling so cruddy. He also didn’t understand why he was in so much pain, it worried him especially since the pain was getting worse and not better. 

After a few moments he tried shifting his position again, causing him to gasp as he felt something drop, causing an intense pressure start to build up. At least worse than the weird pressure he felt when he was trying the small pushes to make the pain go away. He wasn’t sure which position was better, on his knees or back to his frog position while leaning back against a pile of sand. But now he was more scared, thinking that something very wrong was happening. 

\-----

Auston blinked as he stepped out of the building, looking over at Zach. He didn’t know what he was hearing, but it was coming from the lake shore. “Zach? Have you seen Morgan lately? I know TJ told me that he saw him at the lake and he wasn’t looking that great. Wasn’t sure if you had seen him after that or not.” 

“No, I know we saw him after he dropped us off but that was the last time I saw him.” Zach spoke gently, hearing a noise as well coming from the lake. He couldn’t quite make out what it was, but he knew it probably wasn’t good. “Should we check it out? We should probably get Anya too, just in case it’s something bad.”

“She’s our baby doctor; I don’t think we’d need her unless he was having a baby. And as far as I know, he isn’t.” Auston frowned, heading toward the beach with Zach. He was one of those that didn’t like the idea of having a baby without help, he was more than willing to talk to Anya or any of the other doctors when he was close to having the baby. 

Zach frowned, seeing Morgan on the sand with his hands behind his back against a pile of sand. He was more concerned as he saw tears falling down the other’s face, along with a very scared expression on his face. He could also tell the other was in a lot of pain, and didn’t really understand why. 

Morgan didn’t even notice his friends and teammates walk up, he was trying everything he could to make the pain just go away. He had continued the light pushes, which did help some, but whatever was happening just seemed to get worse and he felt whatever he felt drop earlier move a little more. He kept his hands behind his back, this time pushing harder as he moved his legs slightly further apart, causing him to cry out as that seemed to do something. He also thought he felt some weird liquid earlier after he was talking to TJ, but didn’t think much of it.

“Morgan?” Zach asked gently, trying to figure out what was going on. He watched Auston as he moved as fast as a 6 month pregnant belly would allow him toward where Anya was stationed. He carefully knelt down, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “What’s going on? How long has this being going on?” 

Morgan whimpered softly, breathing slowly as he tried to collect himself. He felt like he was being ripped apart, and still didn’t understand what was happening. He just felt pain, and that was pretty much it. “I don’t know… hurts like hell… I felt bad last night, just thought it was because of whatever Auston wanted for dinner last night. Felt more pain while you all were listening Bettman, got worse when I was talking to TJ… Felt something drop when I was walking back here, and now it’s just unbearable…” 

“Damn…” Zach frowned, not really understanding what happened or what was happening to his friend. Why would he be in so much pain, but not look like anything was wrong? Was it an appendix or worse? He didn’t know. “Auston should be back soon, he’s getting Anya.” 

Morgan just nodded, a soft moan escaping his lips as he tried to shift his position again. He was in more pain than anything he had ever felt before, even after facing a few slapshots from other players was nothing compared to this. He had no choice but to push hard again, biting back a pained moan as he felt whatever it was start to move more, but it seemed stuck. 

“What is it?” Zach frowned, trying to help Morgan get adjusted to a position he hoped would work better for his friend. “Do you think that moving your lower body up will help?” 

“Don’t know…” Morgan spoke softly, wincing as he shifted to move his hips up, his hands still on the pile of sand behind him. He glanced up at the clouds before he moved his head forward, chin to his chest as he repeated the pushing process again, putting a little more force behind it, soon feeling a rather unpleasant burning sensation. “Oh hell…” 

Zach frowned, trying to get himself back up onto his feet so he could try and find Auston. He was beyond scared, and he didn’t know if Morgan was dying or what was going on. He looked back at his friend before waddling as fast as he could toward where he saw Auston head off, hoping that Morgan didn’t die before he got back.

Morgan cried out, feeling tears fall down his cheeks as he watched Zach waddle off after Auston, leaving him with who knows what happening to him. And this time he couldn’t stop pushing, even if he wanted to. But part of him knew to a quick break so he didn’t get worn out. He just wanted this over with, to just not feel pain anymore. 

He tried to hold off as long as he could, panting lightly while hoping for Zach to come back. After a few moments he finally removed his shorts, realizing that they were part of the pain, keeping from whatever was coming out to actually come out. He screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt the burning intensify and something start to emerge, tears streaming down his face as he kept his chin against his chest. He whimpered softly, his body shaking this time, knowing that others would have heard him screaming. 

After a few more moments, he gave it all he had, pushing the hardest he had, feeling something come out before something bigger started to also come out after the first part. He was scared, honestly not wanting to see what was happening. He moved himself up a little more, glancing around to see if anyone was coming. He thought he heard footsteps, but couldn’t really tell where they were coming from. 

“Come on…” He spoke quietly, giving one last, hard push before finally he felt relief. The pain was gone, but he also heard something land on the sand with a soft thud, soon followed by a whimper and a wavery cry. Morgan slowly moved back, feeling himself connected to something as he carefully lowered himself back on the sand, leaning back against the pile he had held onto. But then he looked down at his feet and gasped, hesitantly pushing himself up to pick up the rather good sized infant into his arms. “How did… I didn’t… HELP!!!” 

\-----

Auston waddled over as fast as he could with Zach, Anya following behind them. Soon he saw her run toward Morgan, kneeling next to him before he looked to see a baby in Morgan’s arms. “What the? How the hell did you get a baby? You weren’t pregnant!” 

“Like I knew…” Morgan spoke quietly, holding the slimy baby against him, moving his hand over the baby’s head. He looked up at Anya before looking back down at the baby, trying to keep it warm. He sighed softly, kissing the baby gently. “I obviously wasn’t showing… but then all of a sudden the baby just came out…” 

“Well not that easy.” Anya smiled gently, checking the baby before cutting the cord and helping deliver the afterbirth. “But baby looks healthy, I’ll have to help Morgan back to the delivery center and have the doctors help him and the baby. You can visit them any time; he just can’t leave the center until he’s healed enough to go home.” 

“Is the baby okay?” Auston asked gently, watching Zach help Morgan up. He moved to Morgan’s other side, helping him toward the area that the players who were closer to delivering were going to be staying. He figured they had a maternity ward area set up too for those that just gave birth, or choose to give birth there instead of wherever they wanted. “Will Morgan be okay?” 

“He’ll be fine; I just have to give him a thorough check up to make sure, okay?” Anya smiled gently, carrying the newborn in her arms after wrapping her up in a towel she had brought with her. “It looked like he had a rough birth, so have to make sure there is no tearing. But I’ll let you two and his other friends come in and see him either tonight or tomorrow. And the baby is okay, she seems happy and healthy.” 

Auston nodded, walking into the building before he saw Kris standing there with Geno in the hallway. He was sure the others could see the pain on Morgan’s face as well as a few other signs of what just happened. He looked back, thankful that Zach was walking slowly with Morgan as well. “Long story… I’m sure he’ll explain everything when he feels up to it.” 

“Will you tell us?” Geno asked, watching Morgan head down the hall with Anya while Zach moved back over to Auston. He wondered if this was the start of something strange, or if it was just a coincidence that Morgan really didn’t know he was pregnant. Everyone else around him was definitely pregnant, so he honestly didn’t know what was happening. “But you can wait until tomorrow if you want, all of us tired.” 

“Yeah, tomorrow will be better. We’ll only tell your group about this, but I know Anya will let Bettman know. Then he’ll probably require those that aren’t really showing yet to do a pregnancy test or have Anya do sonograms to show they are pregnant.” Zach sighed, hoping that it wouldn’t come to that. But he also wouldn’t blame them if it happened, even though someone not knowing they were pregnant was supposedly rare. 

“Sounds fair to us. We’ll see everyone at breakfast tomorrow.” Kris replied, letting Zach and Auston go down to visit Morgan or head to their respective rooms if they needed. He too was concerned about what would happen, especially now that there was a new surprise baby here. He sighed softly, hoping that the rest of their time here would be less eventful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll hopefully have more things in the next chapter to make this interesting. At least if that's possible compared to the opening one. Will the rivals stay rivals, or will they actually be civil toward one another during their time at the retreat? 
> 
> Also I apologize if I seem to jump around in this opening part, I tried to edit it the best I could before uploading so it actually made sense. Which is why it took longer than my guestimate of being up on the 22nd.


	3. Let Chaos Reign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the surprise birth of Morgan Rielly's baby girl, Gary Bettman decides to lay down a few new ground rules that don't sit well with the expecting players. Causing TJ, Patrick, Brandon, Kris and a few others to refine their respective birth plans. 
> 
> Also another unexpected event arrives with two more players going into labor, with one set of twins on the way when the player thought he was only having one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking for new places to use for possible birth scenarios. I have a list of course, but I'd love to hear what you all have to offer as well. 
> 
> The players mentioned in this chapter are: 
> 
> Elias Pettersson - 7 months
> 
> Brock Boeser - 7 months
> 
> Max Domi - 6 months
> 
> Jeff Petry - 6 months
> 
> Jake DeBrusk - 5 months
> 
> David Krejci - 5 months
> 
> Andre Burakovsky - 7 months

8am

“Did you hear what happened yesterday?” Geno asked, looking across the table as Kris and Alex walked over to the table. “It weird… Morgan not have belly at all, he skinny like Sid.” 

“What happened?” Alex asked, sitting down carefully next to Kris. “I was probably talking to Johnny, so I didn’t really hear about it. But from the way you’re talking it sounds like it must have spread all over the place.” 

“Auston didn’t really explain that much and he hasn’t come in yet. But we saw them helping Morgan back down the hall to the maternity section, and Anya was holding a baby. That’s all I know.” 

Kris sighed, resting one hand over his belly. “How is Johnny doing anyway? He’s probably going to be the last out of everyone here… that baby doesn’t want to leave.” 

“He wasn’t that comfortable last night, but I’m sure he’s just as ready as you are.” Alex replied, turning to see a few others walk in. He recognized a few of the others that he saw yesterday, but he didn’t remember talking to them. “Oh, there’s Johnny. He definitely doesn’t look that comfortable now.”

“I can hear you, Gally. No, I am definitely not comfortable… I just want this baby out.” Johnny smiled before walking over to get some waffles and orange juice from the breakfast bar. He knew he was the one due the soonest, and so far he didn’t know when he would finally have his baby. He sighed softly to himself before walking back over to the table with the others. 

“I’m sure Noah feels the same way.” Alex smiled, leaning back against the chair. He was nervous of course, especially without anyone here to really support him. He did have Geno, and he would have Kris after he gave birth. “Is anyone else coming, or is it just those of us that looked like they swallowed watermelons?” 

“No idea.” Kris replied, nibbling on a piece of toast. He was watching Johnny like a hawk, but he also was paying attention to himself as well, especially if anything felt weird or not like the usual pregnancy aches and pains that he had been feeling. 

“But we see blood on Morgan too. Maybe he have baby but not know he pregnant?” Geno asked, even though it seemed very strange to him. It would be hard to hide a pregnant belly, especially if they got as far along as he and some of his friends were. 

Alex was about to speak up before he saw Auston walk in with Noah, the two followed by TJ and Lars. So far four familiar faces, then he blinked and looked over with an almost stunned expression. He totally didn’t expect who walked in next, even though he heard some muttering amongst the other players when he walked in. 

“Elias?” Alex asked softly, looking over at the young Swede who came in with Brock. He thought he saw the other earlier, but wasn’t totally sure at the time. “How long have you been here? I thought I saw you yesterday but I wasn’t sure.” 

“Oh, hey. I was here with the other West coast teams, didn’t think anyone saw me. I was sort of toward the back when Bettman started speaking yesterday, and I’m already thinking of plans with Brock and anyone else close to when we’re due.” Elias smiled a little, watching Auston head off with Noah and toward the New York side. “Huh… thought New York and Toronto hated each other.” 

“Not as much as Boston and Montreal.” TJ chuckled softly, looking over at the younger as he walked over to the table. “Or us and Pittsburgh. That probably explains why Max and Jeff are avoiding David and Jake like the plague…” 

“But you’re not avoiding us.” Kris spoke up, offering a half smile toward TJ. “Why is that? I know you usually don’t want to associate with us otherwise. So what’s going on?” 

“I’ve been talking with Geno, and he’s stuck in the same situation with Sid that I am with Nicklas. We know how private Nicklas is, one reason why I’m here.” TJ sighed, lowering his gaze for a moment as he moved one hand over his belly. “He didn’t even mention a word about the baby; I don’t know what he wanted me to do… and you can’t exactly hide a 6 month belly that easily. We did tell Todd of course, but he’s about the only one who knows. Tom posted literally everything from Lars’ first sonogram…” 

Kris frowned, putting a hand on TJ’s shoulder, sensing the other was holding back on his feelings. He could tell the other was heartbroken over not being able to tell good news to others since his husband was pretty much a turtle, keeping everything in his proverbial shell. “What’s going to happen when the baby is born?” 

“Don’t get me wrong, I love Nicky to death. You’ve seen us on the ice, and on the bench… we work really well together. Sometimes too well…” TJ managed a faint smile, to try and keep the tears from coming. “I don’t know… that’s why I suggested we just do things on our own. Get help from our friends if we need it, but otherwise just do what our bodies say. Nicky wanted me in the private birthing section with Anya’s help, and doctors surrounding me and the baby. I don’t want that… Hell, I just want to have the baby, post pictures on my Twitter and Instagram, then let Nicky come back when I’m able to go home. I want to be happy about this for once… he didn’t even post a sonogram picture. All he did was a cryptic coming this summer.” 

“Damn…” Johnny frowned, listening to TJ before he stood up slowly. “I’m siding with you, Kris, Geno, everyone that wants to do things on their own. We let nature take its course, go from there. But I say if you get a sonogram with your next check up, post it. Don’t tag Nicky, just say this is my baby and I want you all to see him or her.” 

“Thanks… glad to see I have some support in my idea. Might need a small revision since there are also a few that don’t like the idea.” TJ replied, looking up at Johnny. “You okay? I know you’re past due by a few days now.” 

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’ll probably go for a walk, check the place out. Maybe check in with Morgan and see how he’s doing.” Johnny smiled, moving his hand to his back before slowly waddling out of the breakfast area. He really hoped that the baby wanted to come sooner rather than later, especially since he knew that Bettman was probably watching him like a hawk. He sighed softly, waiting for any sign at all. 

\-----

“Okay, slight change of plans.” TJ spoke, watching Kris lie back against one of the comfy chairs in the living room area. “I heard that Bettman is coming to check out the new arrival, to make sure that it actually happened and isn’t some weird thing that we’re pulling. So I know he’ll want us all to do ultrasounds to make sure we are truly pregnant, and don’t have a pillow stuffed under our shirts or other silliness like we’d do if we were kids.” 

Kris chuckled softly, rubbing his hip carefully. “Oh I know. So what are we going to do now? Knowing him he’ll probably have more people come here, watch our every move… which would probably be creepy as hell.” 

Alex smiled, shaking his head. “It will be. But maybe we can try to be secretive when our time comes? I know I heard that labor hurts like well… the worst pain you ever felt in your life, worse when baby is born. But maybe we can try to hide that we’re in labor so no one suspects anything. And if we know baby is coming, go somewhere that they can’t possibly find us. They’ll look literally everywhere.” 

“There are places around here that they may not think to look in.” Kris smiled, a light grin crossing his lips. “So if we know we’re close, we can either go to our rooms like Johnny is planning to do. Or like I mentioned yesterday, let baby come where he or she wants to come. Pool, beach, room… shower. Lunch room, pretty much anywhere when baby is ready to come out.” 

“Those all sound like good places, well maybe not beach. That would be like Morgan and I don’t think we want to be that exposed.” TJ smiled, watching Kris carefully before he closed his eyes in thought. “I know I have three months, but I may go that route too. It sounds like we’d be in more control that way, instead of confined to one area.” 

“And that’s what most of us wanted.” Alex smiled. “I’m probably going to take a walk myself, see how Geno is doing. I’m sure I’ll come across you two again over the day.” 

“Not going anywhere.” TJ smiled gently, looking over at the other. “I’ll see what Lars is up to, and meet up later this afternoon?” 

“Sounds good to me.” Kris smiled, heading off with Alex while TJ headed out with Lars and a few others. He sighed softly, rubbing his hip again before heading outside. Figuring fresh air would do him some good, and he could check to see how Johnny was doing.

2pm 

Johnny closed his eyes halfway, a soft whimper escaping his lips as he leaned against the wall, breathing slowly as he felt Noah rubbing his back. He didn’t understand why he wanted to do this in the room, but he was also more comfortable here. And they didn’t find any bugs, hidden cameras or microphones in the room. He also made sure to lock the door, and close the blinds just in case anyone wanted to peek in and see what was happening. He didn’t like that idea at all, plus he was in too much pain to really argue with anyone on the matter. 

“Okay… this hurts…” He spoke quietly, trying to hold back tears as he remained against the wall, his head on his hands while he breathed out shakily. “Definitely not making it for dinner…” 

“Well we could go, and then you could scare everyone by giving birth right there in the dining area.” Noah chuckled softly, moving to rub Johnny’s hips gently before adding a little more pressure to it. “Unless Kris does it first, he planned pretty much anywhere would be where his baby would be born.” 

Johnny laughed, glancing back at his friend before focusing back on the non descript, boring tan wall. “Huh… figured they’d at least give us something nice to look at in here you know? The delivery suites probably have flowers or other calming things in them…” 

“You want to go there? There’s one like right next door, they’ll never know we’re there. Or would you rather stay here?” Noah asked gently, not sure how close Johnny was, he just wanted his friend comfortable while in labor and later on when he delivered the baby. “How close do you think baby is?”

“No idea… I don’t feel anything that Morgan talked about, so I’m probably fine for a few hours. I might take a nap though, see if that helps. Especially since this is supposedly the hardest thing I’ll end up doing.” Johnny smiled; glad the contraction passed so he could go to the bed and lie down on his side. Even if baby was born right here, he was okay with that. And he’d still be doing things without the doctors hovering over him. 

“I’m not going anywhere. I mean if I do go anywhere it’s just to use the restroom, but I’d be right back.” Noah smiled, watching the other as he tried to get some sleep. 

\-----

“Has anyone seen Noah or Johnny? It’s been a few hours and they weren’t here at lunch.” Alex asked, getting head shakes from the others and a sort of stoic look from Kris. He just offered a smile, knowing that the other didn’t want to let the doctors and other staff know what was going on. And he didn’t blame the other; they were still all in agreement about just doing what they wanted.

“I heard shuffling in one of the rooms a little bit ago.” Andre spoke softly, looking over at the others. “I was just going to check on Morgan and his baby; I’m not even supposed to be in that area yet.” 

“We know.” Kris spoke softly, keeping his voice steady and so far was doing pretty darn good on not keying anyone in on what was going on. Heck, he figured he’d even be able to eat dinner with everyone, and then go from there. But he also knew it depended on what baby wanted to do too. But so far he was pretty proud of himself for doing this without even blinking an eye, despite the pain and the times he did stop, but ended up looking over the lake or watching the others in the pool. 

“Should we see if he’s okay?” Andre asked, looking up at his former rival. “Also… I’m probably going to be hated by you and TJ, but I can’t do this by myself. I’ll have to go to Anya for help; I don’t want to die having a baby you know?” 

“Of course not, and we won’t be mad at you.” Kris replied, carefully putting his arm around Andre’s shoulders. “We know you and a couple others may need more help, and that’s fine. I just wanted to do things my own way, you know? I have no idea how it will end up, all I do know is that I’m just letting things happen.” 

Alex had to smile at that, no one even knew that Kris was talking about right now. They just figured for later on, not at that moment. He had to admire his teammate for being so tough, even though if one looked closely you could see the pain in his eyes. Now he was wondering where he was going to end up when baby arrived. 

6pm

Johnny was all but curled upon himself, holding tightly onto the pillow on the bed. He tried to remember the different positions that he was told about, and ways to make this easier on him. He shifted his weight slightly, moving so he was holding onto the headboard, his head leaning against it while he felt one of the worst contractions he had ever felt so far hit. He felt Noah rubbing his back, and he was grateful for someone being around. But he also heard footsteps by the door, wondering who the heck was there. 

“Johnny? Are you coming for dinner?” Cam asked, hoping the other was okay. 

“Yeah, I’ll be right there!” Johnny called out, not wanting to get anyone too suspicious. He figured that maybe baby would come later; he didn’t really feel pressure yet, just a lot of pain and the contractions slowly getting closer together. So maybe he’d have time, he heard the Blackhawks players say that labor can take a long time. 

“Okay. We’ll see you there.” Cam smiled, heading to the dining hall with the others, not aware of what was going on. Of course he had no reason to know, he was more worried about himself and the others that could be due any time now. 

Johnny frowned, carefully sitting up before slowly standing from the bed, wincing slightly as he moved his hand to his stomach. “Alright… let’s go baby. Maybe I’ll see you later today…” He spoke softly, moving to put on black sweatpants before heading out with Noah. 

“You sure you’re okay?” Noah asked softly. “You don’t want anyone to know you’re in labor do you?” 

“I’m only telling those that won’t tell the doctors. I trust you with this…” Johnny replied, walking slowly toward the dining hall, using Noah for support. But he knew once they got to where people could see them he’d walk by himself, but still stay close to his friend. “But to be safe, I won’t say a word.” 

\----

“Hey, everyone’s here.” TJ smiled, looking over at Johnny and Kris. “Where do you want to sit at?” 

“How about that corner over there?” Johnny asked softly, walking over to the corner table. He was thankful there weren’t others around; he stayed close to Kris who sat on the side by the window while he moved to the corner. He sat down slowly, offering a smile toward the others. He breathed out slowly, shifting slightly in the seat.

“What are you planning for after dinner?” Kris asked, smiling a little toward Johnny. He could tell the other was not feeling well, and could probably tell why. But he wasn’t feeling great either; he just thought he was doing a slightly better job of hiding it. He was too afraid of the others shipping him off to the maternity section with people staring at him and yelling at him what to do. 

“I was planning on watching a movie in the room with Noah. What about you?” Johnny smiled a little, biting back a surprised gasp as he felt something drop lower; he just wanted to try and tough it out here until they went back to the room. He wasn’t too comfortable trying to do things here with Auston and the others close by that were dead set on going to Anya and other doctors. 

“I was thinking on a walk along the docks, it’s supposed to be nice this evening. Maybe check out the pagoda on the dock, and then head back. Movie night sounds good too actually, might do that if it’s not too late when I get back.” Kris spoke softly; he was trying to plan his route in his head, especially if things weren’t moving along that quickly at the moment. 

“Both sound like good ideas. There’s sadly not much we can do here, just wait until our babies are ready and go from there.” TJ sighed, already wanting to venture out of the retreat area. He was bored, and just wanted to do something a little more fun than sit around, listen to Bettman and have the doctors stare at them, almost willing for them to deliver the babies early. 

Johnny nodded, watching the others walk by before he rubbed the side of his belly. It seemed to be tensing up more often now, and the contractions were starting to feel a little closer together than they had earlier. He just hoped he had a few more hours before things got really bad. He slowly stood up, lightly biting his lip before he walked over to get some food, at least to not draw suspicion even if he really wasn’t that hungry at the moment. 

“I had a few other places that we could probably go with.” Kris smiled, hoping that TJ would be okay with his ideas. “Feel free to list other places you can think of too, I’m sure there are lots of areas that aren’t monitored.” 

“The trees are too risky; I was looking at them yesterday. Too close to the parking lot and the docks, definitely noticeable.” TJ sighed, turning to Kris. “Thing is, I don’t want to get dead set on an idea then have baby cross his or her arms and be like ‘Nope, I’m not coming in this spot’ and then say ‘I’m ready!’ when we’re walking across the parking lot or something.” 

Kris nodded, shifting his weight slightly, still not showing any signs of anything going on. He knew something was definitely happening, but he was trying to be as strong as possible. He frowned, watching Johnny come back, looking as pale as a sheet. That was definitely noticeable and he knew the others around could tell something was wrong. “Okay, let’s go for a walk…” 

Johnny breathed out slowly, moving as quickly as he could back to Kris and Noah before he turned to walk out with the two, trying to look as stoic as possible despite the increasing pain and the uncomfortable sensation he had walking out of the dining room. “What about your plans, Tanger?” 

“I’m just helping you and Noah back to your room; I have plenty of time for my plans. The night is still young.” Kris smiled, walking carefully back down the hall with the two. “Looks like your baby had other plans.”

“Tell me about it… I was just standing there with the bacon, then I felt a really, really bad contraction. Standing isn’t fun… baby wants to come faster that way.” Johnny spoke quietly, soon leaning against the wall with Noah next to him. “Damn…”

“What’s wrong?” Noah asked softly, moving to open the door while looking back at Kris. “Did you want to come in, or are you going back to TJ?” 

“I’ll probably head back and tell him where I’m going. If I’m not back, he can look for me. You two will be busy enough very soon.” Kris smiled, watching the two head into the room. “Good luck, and let me know how it goes.” 

Noah nodded, helping Johnny back into the room and onto the bed. He turned on the movie for some extra noise so no one would know what was happening. He made sure it was one with lots of sound effects and maybe some explosions, anything to drown out the noise of a baby crying and Johnny possibly screaming. 

\----

“How about San Andreas?” Johnny asked softly, holding onto the pillow as tight as he could, almost regretting going out to attempt to eat dinner. He bit back a pained moan as he tried to get comfortable, lying on his side to see if that would help any. 

“Sure, we can try that.” Noah nodded, turning the movie on before turning back to Johnny. He made sure that there was plenty of blankets under him and that he had things to wrap the baby up in once it was born. “It doesn’t have a lot of explosions, but it does have people screaming so…” 

Johnny just smiled, moving his hand over his belly. “I don’t feel pressure yet, but I did feel baby moving… so probably getting ready to say ‘I’m ready now!’ Contractions are pretty darn close together though…” 

Noah nodded, carefully moving Johnny’s sweatpants off before tossing them aside to the dirty laundry basket. “I think we’ve seen everything before… sorry if this makes you uncomfortable.” He spoke gently, rubbing his belly. “To think I have to do this alone… you’ll be set free before I give birth.” 

“I’ll try to stay… even if I have to beg.” Johnny smiled, putting his head on the extra pillow that he wasn’t holding onto. “I only have you here, so… they might let me stay so I can help you.” 

“I’d appreciate that.” Noah smiled, trying to make his friend as comfortable as possible. He didn’t know how much longer it would be until baby decided to arrive, but he wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. 

8pm

“Breathe…” Noah spoke softly, trying not to sound too demanding over his friend, but he was also scared with how much pain the other was in, and wished he could make everything all better. “Want to move to the shower? I can turn it on real quick…” 

“God it hurts…” Johnny spoke quietly, crying out into the pillow, moving one leg up. “Can’t move…” 

Noah frowned, knowing that Johnny wanted this hands off. He stepped back while watching his friend, thankful he could turn on the TV to a music video station. He held towels and other things he might need, feeling helpless. He was also wondering what Kris was doing, and how he was doing. 

Johnny took a deep breath before pushing as hard as he could, tears falling down his face. He kept holding onto the pillow like his life depended on it, but thought he felt some progression from earlier, he had let his body do most of the work. 

“Good job… I think I see the head.” Noah spoke quietly, occasionally turning toward the door before he focused back on his friend. “You’re doing amazing…” 

Johnny just nodded, repeating the process again before crying out, nuzzling into the pillow. He panted lightly, closing his eyes. “Come on…” 

“Easy… you’re doing good. One hard push okay?” Noah spoke softly. “You can do this…” 

Johnny whimpered softly before he pushed harder, crying out into the pillow as he felt the head come out. He was glad the baby was on the small side despite being overdue. He closed his eyes, relaxing for a few moments. 

Noah kept quiet, hoping that he wasn’t sounding like a doctor or Anya, but he was only trying to support his friend. He would help the baby if it needed help, but otherwise he would let Johnny do everything on his own. 

Johnny did his best to relax, breathing slowly. He kept his leg up before he pushed harder, crying out as he felt the baby come out a little more. He whimpered softly, taking a deep breath before giving one last hard push, screaming into the pillow as it finally came out. “Oh… you’re here…” 

“Oh my goodness…” Noah smiled, brushing Johnny’s hair back. “You did it. The baby is so cute…” He smiled, moving to carefully rub the baby with the towel to clean it off. “You okay?” 

“Hurt like hell…” Johnny spoke quietly, carefully turning over onto his back before smiling at Noah. “Can I hold the baby?” 

“Of course. You were doing all the hard work.” He smiled, carefully placing the newborn on Johnny’s chest before cutting the cord. “Good job… I’ll go and tell TJ, try to have them come in here without being spotted.” 

“Okay…” Johnny nodded, holding the newborn against him while it was wrapped in the towel to keep warm. “Hi baby…” 

\-----

“Noah?” Patrick blinked, watching the other come out of the other building. “You doing okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m alright. It’s Johnny… He wanted me to find TJ and the others, you and Brandon included. Um… did you come up with a different birth plan because of what happened with Morgan yesterday?” Noah asked, looking up at them. “Kris was talking about it, but I haven’t seen him. He said he was going to the pagoda, then come back to watch movies with Geno and Alex.” 

“Yeah, we were thinking of different places we could go. Brandon suggested that if our babies wanted to come away from here, that would be an idea too. So we could do our thing and no Anya or Bettman around to snatch them away. What happened with Johnny?” Patrick asked, seeing the concern on Noah’s face. 

“He had the baby… cute little boy. He did really well, went a lot faster than I thought it would.” Noah smiled a little. “I think he was just letting his body do most of the work so he only had to do the pushing part… “

“That’s great. Go find TJ; I’ll see if I can find Kris. Or you can text him, which might be a better bet. Don’t want to arouse suspicion if everyone’s awake.” Patrick spoke gently, heading to try and find Kris while Noah texted TJ. 

\----

“Oh…” Kris winced slightly, leaning against the door to one of the boat houses. He breathed out slowly, not really able to hide the pain much anymore. He had been doing so well over the last 14 hours, but it was just getting unbearable the more he walked. He tried to open the door, managing a smile as he saw it was unlocked. He went into the boat house, stopping against one of the columns as he was hit with another hard contraction, looking for somewhere he could either lean against or hold onto. 

He breathed out slowly, moving his arms around the column as he let the contraction pass, but he also felt the baby moving down, with a strange feeling behind it. “O-okay… you want to be a pool house baby? That’s fine...”

After a few moments Kris reached for his phone, texting Patrick and TJ. He figured they’d arrive by the time the baby was starting to come out, or all the way out depending on how far they were from the boat house. He hit send before slowly sliding down against the column, moving to remove his shorts so it would be a little easier. He said a few choice words in French, wishing he had something to hold onto as he leaned back against the column, moving his legs apart carefully. “Okay… let’s do this baby…” 

He took a deep breath before pushing as hard as he could, stifling a pained moan as he did. He kept his shoulders against the column, breathing slowly while he waited a few seconds. Kris looked around to see if there was anything at all he could hold onto, but there really wasn’t much so he kept his hands on the floor for now.

Kris closed his eyes halfway, once again pushing hard, but caught himself trying to move away from the sensation of the head starting to come out. It scared him, and the burning didn’t help him feel better about the situation either. He relaxed for a few seconds, trying to shift his position slightly so he could try and get the baby out the quickest and easiest way. 

“Okay… let’s see if we can do this…” He spoke quietly, shifting so he was sitting more like a frog, moving one hand to where he felt the head and moved to support the baby’s head as he pushed again. This time he bit back another moan, coupled with screaming in his throat as he felt the head come out all the way. 

He glanced toward the door, wondering where the others were. He knew he wanted to do this by himself, and so far was accomplishing that. He took a few quick breaths, trying to regain his composure before giving one last, hard push and holding it as long as he could bear. He moved both hands to hold the baby’s shoulders, soon helping it up as it came out. He slowly slid back against the pillar, panting lightly. “Oh my god… look at you…” 

“I think he’s in here…” TJ spoke gently, carefully opening the door to see Kris leaning against a pillar with a baby in his arms. “Looks like you did pretty well… baby looks happy and healthy, definitely a little mover.” 

Kris chuckled softly, rubbing the baby’s back gently. “Came out pretty easily… shoulders hurt like hell though. But I think doing it this way works… I was walking through the entire labor except the small part I spent taking a nap.”

“We didn’t even know you were in labor, so you must have been practicing before this happened.” Patrick smiled, looking at the baby. “Look at all that hair…”

“Yeah… I was like ‘What would I do if I was in labor and didn’t want anyone to know?’ Since I knew I was being sent down here…” Kris spoke softly, slowly trying to stand back up before crying out, going back down on the ground. “That better be the afterbirth… can one of you take the baby?” 

TJ nodded, carefully taking the newborn while he saw Patrick cut the cord. “You are so tiny… and don’t tell anyone I said this, but you’re pretty cute… for a Penguin.” 

Kris chuckled weakly, lying back against the pillar. “You look cute holding a baby Osh… I bet yours will be that cute. Oh…. Not again… not the afterbirth, I have to push again…” 

“Go ahead. You did it with this cutie, you can do it again.” Patrick spoke gently, letting Kris do what he knew how to do. “Did you know you were having more than one?” 

Kris shook his head, pushing as hard as he could despite being tired from the first baby. “No… we just saw one baby before I came down here. This one is a surprise…” 

“You’re okay.” Patrick smiled a little, watching TJ cuddle the newborn while Kris continued his actions. “Okay, I think I see something. I think this baby is bigger.” 

“I think so too…” Kris whimpered, closing his eyes tightly as he pushed again, trying his best to get the head out. “Oh… come on…” 

TJ frowned, holding the baby carefully before wrapping it in his sweatshirt. “Oh I know… I can’t feed you yet. And I’m not your mommy… all I can do is keep you warm.” He spoke softly as the baby snuggled against him. 

“That’s really sweet…” Patrick smiled, looking over at TJ while watching Kris carefully. “Oh there it is… head’s out now. You’ll be done really soon, Tanger. Want something to bite down on?”   
“Hell yes…” Kris spoke softly, glancing up at TJ offering him a tired smile. “Never thought about being called that… I like it. I’m going through all of this, so why not?” 

TJ just smiled, watching Patrick give him his sweatshirt. “I told Nicky that even though I am a guy, I’m still going through all of this… and I’ll be doing the same thing you’re doing in three short months. Why not be called mommy?” 

Kris just smiled, blinking away a few tears. He put the sleeve of the sweatshirt in his mouth before moving his hands back and pushing down as hard as he could, screaming into the sleeve as he felt the shoulders start to come out. He hoped to whatever higher power that was out there, that it was only one extra baby. He honestly doubted he could handle a third. 

“On there are the shoulders. One more okay?” Patrick spoke gently, offering a smile before he went to find something to wrap the second baby in. He soon came back with a clean towel he found sitting on a counter, holding it in his hands as he waited to see what would happen next. 

Kris was tired, and in all kinds of pain. He put his hands back behind him, biting down on the sweatshirt again as he gave the hardest push he could, moving his hips up slightly as he felt the second baby come out all the way. 

“I got you…” Patrick smiled, getting the towel to dry the baby off. He looked up at TJ, wondering how they were going to get Kris back to the third trimester section without being seen. But he also knew the other needed help since there was a small tear from the birthing process. 

“Just help me walk back… If they see me, they see me… I just want back in my bed…” Kris spoke quietly, soon delivering the afterbirth before very slowly standing up, putting his arms on the pillar as he leaned forward. He glanced back at Patrick as he cut the cord, while he watched TJ with the first born. “You can carry her Osh; I’ll try to tell her that not all Capitals players are bad.”

TJ just chuckled, smiling toward Kris as he kept the newborn close to him. Deep inside he was wondering what other kinds of chaos would happen. Would other players close to delivery give birth next? Would it be just days of births and not much relaxation? He knew he was just jumping to conclusions with his first thought; it would be kind of silly if that happened. Right now it was just a wait and see what would happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Next chapter should be a little calmer. Don't plan on babies being born in that one.


	4. We Don't Need Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two days have passed since the birth of the newest arrivals to the retreat, and Gary Bettman arrives to see the newborns for himself and set a few new ground rules.
> 
> Meanwhile Auston and Zach try to talk some sense into the ones that don't want medical intervention, especially after hearing about the births of Johnny and Kris' babies. While also still slightly disturbed from the surprise birth of Morgan's baby three days earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be a little shorter, I'm not totally sure yet. But I do know there will be little to no chaos, just drama starting to unfold. 
> 
> I will also be doing a few time skips since if I went by real time, this fic would go on forever and ever. Also I will not do all births as I mentioned previously, it would take a really long time, especially with everyone that I haven't even included. 
> 
> However if there is a birth scene you want to see, I'll do it of course. I'm not letting all the fun get away from me that easily.
> 
> Also, I still dislike Bettman, always will. So please don't think I'm trying to paint him in a good light, I'm having Patrick, TJ, etc. do what they're planning as a rebellion of sorts against him.

2 days later

Auston smiled a little as he knocked on Morgan’s door, hoping he wasn’t disturbing his friend’s rest. He looked over his shoulder to see Evgeni walking toward his room, then saw the look on his face which wasn’t an all too pleased one. He didn’t think it was too early, it was only 10am so everyone should have been up. He soon stopped as the older Russian put a hand on his shoulder, sending him a glare that could have easily killed someone if he wanted to. “Evgeni, I didn’t see you… I wasn’t knocking too loud was I?” 

“You know what time it is?” Geno asked, crossing his arms as he looked at Auston in the eyes. The other was only an inch shorter than him, so it wasn’t really that much of a height difference. “Kris still sleeping, he not sleep well.”

“I didn’t know, I thought everyone was up. I was just going to check to see how Morgan was doing, I’ll try to be more considerate next time.” Auston replied, the smile fading quickly from his face. “But don’t go anywhere today; I wanted to talk to you and your friends in the den area.”

“What time? Have to tell Alex, TJ, Cam... or you only talk to me, Alex, Cam and anyone else have baby soon?” Geno asked, stepping back before resting one hand over his belly. “Cam due next, bug him. I still do things my way.” 

“You saw what happened to Kris, he almost died.” Auston sighed, shaking his head. “You weren’t there, but Alex and TJ told me how bad he was bleeding. What if you all die because you’re too stubborn to go to Anya?” 

“He not die, he alive. He just hurt a lot. Now excuse me, I go check on my friend too.” Geno huffed, moving past Auston. “You tell Alex, then Gally tell me when we meet.”

Auston just shook his head, walking into Morgan’s room to see him cuddling his newborn who was fast asleep against his chest. He managed a smile, hoping that his friend and the baby didn’t hear him talking to Geno, even if it wasn’t entirely heated. 

“What were you talking to Malkin about?” Morgan asked, careful not to wake up the tiny person in his arms. “Is it about what you and Zach wanted to do? You know I wouldn’t have chosen to have her where I did if I knew I was pregnant. But don’t let that sway you in one direction or another; babies are born wherever they want to be born.”

“I’m not doing it alone; I never wanted to do it that way. I wanted to do it surrounded with friends and my loved ones, that part I can’t do obviously because of that rule that bans partners from being here with us.” Auston sighed, looking over at his friend. 

“And again, I didn’t want to do it alone. I literally had no choice, if I had known I was in labor when Bettman was here, or TJ was talking to me then I would have gone to see Anya and the others.” Morgan sighed, carefully moving his daughter over to the bassinet next to his bed. 

“I know that, but I want to talk to Malkin, Gally and Cam about doing it the safe way. They’re due really soon, and I don’t want to see them go through what Letang and Johnny did.” Auston frowned; it was obvious he was scared about what was going to happen and what would happen if there was no help whatsoever. 

“You can talk to them about it, and tell them why you are concerned. But don’t force them, if you do then god knows they’ll not listen to you and still do it their way.” Morgan sighed, running his fingers through his hair before he slowly got up from the bed. “Also Johnny had someone with him. So he wasn’t alone, he did what he planned from what I heard.”

“Alright… I’ll try to get them after breakfast, and maybe try to be a little calmer about it. Then they might listen, and I’m not trying to force anyone. I know they’ll still do what they want to.” He replied, watching his friend before turning toward the door. “I’ll talk to you later.”

\------

“Okay… why are we all here this time?” TJ sighed, crossing his arms over his belly. “I made Nicklas a promise that I’d at least text him with an update… since I’m sure you know that we can’t have our partners here.” 

“I know that. But I figured that you also knew why everyone is here and why I wanted to talk to everyone.” Auston replied, watching the others while waiting for Evgeni, Alex and Cam to show up. But then he also a very familiar figure from the corner of his eye, he sighed as he moved over next to Zach. “I’ll tell you later…” 

“Great he summoned Bettman…” Andre sighed, looking at his former teammate before turning his attention toward Gary as he moved in front of the fireplace with a clipboard in his hands. He also wondered how the hell the commissioner of the NHL had this much time on his hands with the season not even over yet, at least not for those who weren’t pregnant. 

“I’d like to see how he managed that…” Jake muttered, moving to sit next to David. “And don’t know why we have to be here too, we’re not due for 4 months.”   
“Apparently it’s everyone. Probably adding more rules and refine some that he maybe didn’t think about.” TJ shook his head, soon seeing a few others file in and sit in various areas of the den. “I’m sure Morgan’s surprise baby will be the first topic…” 

“Please, quiet down. I know you were probably not expecting to see me back so soon, but I was made aware of two surprises that happened only in the last three days. So I expect everyone to follow the new regulations.” Bettman spoke, looking over the small group gathered in front of him. He noted some were paying attention, and a few others seemed uninterested in what he had to say. 

“Wonder what they are this time…” Alex spoke, crossing his arms but turned his attention to Bettman. Even if his expression showed he really could care less about what rules the other had set for them now. 

“First off, I am making all sonograms mandatory. This is for your safety, and the safety of the unborn child. Also so we know if we are dealing with high risk pregnancies, and if so we can take appropriate action and make sure parent and baby are safe, healthy and happy for delivery.” Bettman started, glancing around the room. “As such, I will be asking Anya and the other obstetricians around their findings and see if we should take special precautions. High risk pregnancies will be in the third trimester wing earlier than their expected due dates should there be complications.” 

“Great…” Cam muttered under his breath. “Next will be ‘all players due within a week from this meeting will be forced to stay in their beds’ or some stupid shit like that… I’m starting to hate this place. He made it out to be so good, to get away from prying eyes. Yet… we are still under prying eyes.”

“Second, the sonograms will also tell us if you are having one baby or multiples. I was made aware that there was a multiple birth two days ago, which is why I am making the sonograms mandatory. Along with the surprise birth from someone who apparently didn’t know they were pregnant. So those here who are not quite at the second trimester, you get sonograms first to make sure that you are indeed pregnant. Especially required if you aren’t showing at this time.” Bettman spoke, getting a few muttered curses in response, and quite a few one finger salutes. 

“This is just getting better and better…” Jake sighed, crossing his arms. “And what if it’s someone built like Wilson? I know he’s not able to get pregnant, but just saying… Heck, even Geno doesn’t look almost 9 months.” 

Geno chuckled lightly, looking over at Jake. “No, don’t look it… but feel it, yes. Baby not get smaller. And how we know Tommy not pregnant?” 

TJ laughed softly, shaking his head while he watched Lars also shake his head. “Definitely not pregnant. But I can see a few here that would fall under the make doubly sure category.” 

“Third, anyone that knows they are due within a certain time frame, they are required to go to the maternity area of the third trimester wing. I do not want to hear about any other babies being born in unsafe circumstances. Again this is for everyone’s safety, I don’t want to be the one telling your team owners that their players passed away because of being too stubborn for medical treatment.” Bettman added, watching the others cross their arms while also glaring at him. 

“I think he did summon the devil…” TJ sighed, glaring at Auston. “How else would Bettman know our plans unless a certain Leaf told him?” 

“And lastly, I have made a small revision to the partner rule. While I know they are busy with the final stretch to the playoffs, you are allowed to Face Time, Skype and so on with them. And if your partners are part of teams that have been eliminated from contention, then they may come here sooner if you wish to have moral support. If anyone has questions, let me know and I will answer them as soon as possible. And remember, if anyone is due in the next week or two, you are better off making plans to deliver in our private delivery rooms for your comfort and baby’s safety.” Bettman spoke, turning to head out of the room. He decided to head over to the maternity section to get a look at the new babies for himself to see if they were as healthy as Anya told him. 

\----

“At least he didn’t mention the concerns over how Kris and Morgan delivered…” Patrick shook his head, looking at the others. But he could also tell that TJ was a little closer to Auston than he had before, and he doubted it was to wish him well. “Alright Osh, no killing Matthews. I know you’re pissed, we are too.” 

“I secretly think that last part was a jab at Kempe… the Kings had no shot of making it this year.” Andre spoke, looking over at his fellow Swede. “But season’s not over yet.” 

“No, you’re right Andre. So I’ll probably see a welcome face in a couple months. Maybe sooner, we’ll see.” Adrian replied, soon turning his attention to TJ and to Patrick who was trying to keep TJ from harming Auston. 

“Alright Matthews, did you call Bettman here or did he just appear randomly? He had to have heard about the births from someone that has knowledge of what happened. And you are the only one that has knowledge that is willing to talk to him.” TJ asked, sighing as he stepped back. He didn’t want to hurt him, but he also wanted Auston to know he wasn’t all that pleased either.   
“I only told him about Morgan, someone else had to have mentioned Kris and Johnny.” Auston replied, turning to see Geno in his face next. “You think I’m lying?”   
“You say Tanger almost die. How you know if you not see him? I think you are lying, Bettman know about Tanger and Johnny too. And you tell him.” Geno replied, watching Auston before looking over at the others. “Everyone agree that Auston lie?” 

“That is not fair. We only mentioned it because we didn’t want anyone to die, and Kris looked pretty bad. But you can’t say that Auston lied.” Zach protested, looking up at Geno.

“So you admit calling? At least someone tell truth. Won’t hate Zach, but still mad at Auston. We still do what we want to do. We have trouble, and then we have someone get Anya.” Geno sighed, moving his hand to his back. “I say Atlantic stay on their side, don’t want trouble makers.” 

Auston rolled his eyes, turning to leave the den area. “Fine. Not that we have sides, but I’ll make sure that we stay away from the Metro. Maybe not everyone, I still have some friends in your division.” 

TJ sighed, watching Auston and Zach head out with a few of the other players. “I don’t understand why he said Kris almost died; he didn’t lose that much blood. And I wasn’t there when Johnny had his baby.” 

“Johnny had it a little rough because the baby was a little bigger than he thought, and we know how he’s built. But he did pretty well despite a good sized baby. I just hope that there are no more surprises waiting for us.” Noah replied, watching Auston head out. “Don’t worry about him; it’s not good for anyone to worry about anything really.” 

“I’m not worried about him, trust me.” TJ shook his head, watching the two as well. “So… Cam is due next right? Hope Auston doesn’t get to him; he doesn’t need to get stressed out either. Of course I don’t know which side he wants to be on.”

“I can’t speak for everyone; there are a lot of us here.” Nick chuckled softly, offering a smile toward his rival. “But I think we were going along with what you, Kane, Saad and a few others want to do. Just do what our bodies say to do and go from there. I’m not keen on having everyone hovering over me either, and since our partners can’t be here for the birth unless our teams are knocked out of the playoffs or playoff contention, we only have each other.” 

“That rule sucks worse than the no partners at all until we get the all clear to get out of this place.” Noah sighed softly. “How is that supposed to make us feel better if we see other’s partners but ours aren’t here? Didn’t Bettman not want to cause undo pain and stress to us?” 

“That’s what he said. Now he’s flipping on that apparently, I just wish he’d make up his mind you know? Now watch him come back and revise it again if he hears from the Matthews grapevine that some of us are upset because some partners are here and others aren’t.” Patrick replied, wondering what the hell was going on.

“We’ll get this sorted out, I’m sure. For now we should all probably try to relax and see what happens next. And we should keep an eye on Cam, make sure Auston is nowhere near him. Even though he said the Atlantic would stay away from the Metro.” TJ spoke, although he did wonder who Auston’s friends were that were in the division.

“That’s a good idea. So I guess we head off on our own for now, and meet up for dinner? And check with those that are due soon, at least the ones we know who are on our side.” Noah smiled, looking at the others before heading off on his own.

Patrick nodded in agreement, soon leaving with the others. All he knew was that the next few months would be very interesting to say the least. He still had his own plans in place, to try and do what Kris and Johnny did. He was sure the others did too, so all he could hope for was that nothing would happen to squash what they were spending a good time planning on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know Mario is technically not with Arizona on the NHL level from my understanding. But it works for fic purposes and an idea I hatched last night. Also I know I forgot Noah, I kept looking at him on the Calgary roster and wrote him in the last chapter. Sorry for my brain fart. 
> 
> Mentioned players: 
> 
> Noah Hanifin - 8 months 
> 
> Adrian Kempe: 7 months
> 
> Mario Kempe - 7 months
> 
> Nick Foligno - 7 months, 3 weeks


	5. Welcome Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week has passed since Bettman's second arrival, and now all eyes are on those at are due close to the current date. This leaving some players on edge, worrying about Auston's involvement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter was written before the Alex Galchenyuk trade, but I am keeping him with Pittsburgh for fic purposes. The option for new players being added will remain open for now. And now Taffoli was just traded, so... since I already have 2 Canucks mentioned, this is before his trade from LA. *prays no one else gets traded before she adds them in the fic* 
> 
> This was uploaded after his trade, started writing before it happened, but let's say he's still with LA in fanfic world. 
> 
> Also I tried a silent birth with Cam, I never even RPd that before. I watched a whole 400+ birth scenes on YouTube, so I have inspiration for more births for players I have mentioned. Let's just say I'm really excited to write one of them coming up soon.
> 
> Also this is a little shorter than I had planned, but the next chapter all I'll say is hold onto your hats. 
> 
> Mentioned players:
> 
> Tyler Toffoli - 7 months

Alex looked up, smiling in surprise to see Kris up and about with his babies as his friend and teammate entered the dining area. He had seen Johnny occasionally, but he figured the other may have still felt a little under the weather if the birth was a hard one. But he was happy to see his friend out and about among the others for now. “How are you feeling? Anya told us jack… all they said was that you’d be able to go back to your room once you started feeling better.”

“Well figured a week was enough time to get out of there. I still feel pretty crappy, takes a lot out of you in more ways than one. And let’s just say the babies aren’t the only ones wearing diapers.” Kris smiled a little, walking carefully into the dining area before putting the carriers down on one of the couches. 

“It’s not easy having babies; at least that’s what I was told. And I’m scared to death… me and Geno are due pretty close together. Cam is due any day now, and I’m sure there are others close to us too. It’s going to be baby city. Tyler is due around the same time that Lars and a few others are.” Alex chuckled softly, rubbing his belly. 

“It’s going to be chaos.” Kris smiled, sitting down gingerly next to his friend. “Who else is due close to you guys? If they’re part of the Matthews group, don’t worry about them. They’ll be in the birthing suites with Anya and the mandated doctors.” 

“Have we seen Sid or anyone?” Alex asked, but he wasn’t sure how the others were doing since they apparently had a limited time to talk to their partners. “I’m just really starting to hate this place… we can’t do shit. We’re just here to sit around, grow our babies and give birth. We only went out once a couple days ago.”

“TJ said he was going out later. Oh wait, Noah’s due around you guys too right? He’s okay, he isn’t with Matthews. And no, I haven’t seen anyone yet. Maybe Bettman went back on his word and isn’t letting them know about when everyone is due.” Kris sighed, looking at his babies who were still sound asleep. 

“Knowing him, probably. Especially since he said we couldn’t have them to begin with. Which sucks eggs really.” Alex replied, watching his friend before he saw Cam walk in, looking rather uncomfortable. “You okay?” 

“Yeah, just feel like crap you know? Back hurts, and my hips are killing me. But I’ll live. Don’t think anything is going on just yet.” He replied, smiling as he looked over at the twins. “Oh my goodness… those yours Tanger?” 

“Cute aren’t they?” Kris smiled. “What were you planning for the birth?”

“No idea. I know I want to do what you did with little to no assistance, but I can text if anything goes wrong or if it takes forever getting the baby out.” Cam smiled gently. “Nick said he’d help too if I ended up in our shared room.” 

“I’m sure you’ll find somewhere. We just have to make sure that no one finds out you know?” Alex smiled, turning his attention back to the twins. “Wish Matthews would see that they’re okay, and you’re okay now Kris. He’s basically forcing us to go to Anya and have our babies with her.”

“I know. I’m going to talk to TJ then see what Nick is up to, see you at dinner?” Cam asked, moving his hand to his back. “I was planning on eating in my room for lunch, but feel free to stop by if you’d like. And that sounds stupid, he can’t do that. I swear if I finally do go into labor I’ll keep it on the downlow so he won’t find out.” 

“Good luck with that. I swear he has labor radar or at least knows when we’re giving birth… I still want to know how the hell he knew about the twins. He was not in the boat house with us.” Kris sighed, letting one of the babies hold his finger. “Just be careful okay? If anything happens I’m sure TJ can help if you go with him.”

“Oh I know, it’s sort of eerie.” Cam nodded, turning to head out of the room. “I just know I want baby here already, but I’m sure those of us that are due within the next month or two weeks feel the same way I do.”

Alex laughed, rubbing his belly. “I feel you there. I’ll see you at dinner if not earlier.” 

\-----

“When are you headed out?” Cam asked as he waddled over to TJ. “I can help if you want.”

“I’ll probably head out shortly, if you feel up to coming along you can. I’m mostly doing a run for stuff we need after birth, we have a few things for the birth itself after I made the last run.” TJ smiled, turning toward Cam. “And maybe we can pick up lunch on the way back. Treat ourselves you know?” 

“Just tell me when and I’ll definitely join you.” He smiled, rubbing the small of his back. He sighed, having been feeling the back pains for a couple days now, and only getting worse around lunch time yesterday. 

“Let’s see… meet me in a couple hours? I have to make sure Lars is okay; he said he wasn’t feeling good this morning. And I know if anything happens to him, Tom will find a way to get over here. Rules or no rules.” TJ replied, turning to head to their shared room. “I’ll meet you in the lobby heading out.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll meet you then.” Cam smiled, heading back to his room to get more comfortable clothes on, probably needed since he didn’t know how long they’d be out and he also wanted to try and hide his belly. Although admittedly it would be difficult hiding a 9 month pregnant belly at this point. 

3 hours later  
Roanoke, VA

“Wow…” Cam smiled, walking around the store as he helped TJ gather needed supplies that may not have been at the retreat. “Do they have those diapers that Kris was talking about also? If we’re going to have the babies where we’re planning, we probably need those.”

“I already bought about 2 dozen boxes, along with some other supplies we need. We just have to get scissors, clamps for the cord, things like that. Receiving blankets if necessary, Nicklas said that he was going to see about having warmers given to us. He’s still not that happy about what I’m planning, but he knows that I want to do it this way.” TJ sighed, walking toward the blanket section. 

Cam nodded, following TJ with a smile on his face and not much of a concern for anything else going on. He was more than happy to get out of the place for a few hours, and maybe learn more about his rival who was also in the same position he was. “How is Lars?”

“He said he was feeling a little better, he just figured it was something he ate last night.” TJ replied, picking up a few blankets. “I told him I wouldn’t be gone that long. How are you holding up?” 

“I’m okay.” Cam replied, soon following the other down a few more aisles. He breathed out through his nose, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. The pains in his back seemed to be worse than a few hours ago, but didn’t think too much about it. 

“Okay. Can you watch our stuff; I have to visit the rest room real quick. The one downside of carrying another person for 9 months.” TJ chuckled lightly, heading toward the bathroom while leaving Cam to guard their cart and maybe find other things he might need. 

Cam nodded, putting one hand on the cart before offering a smile toward the workers and some of the other customers that were walking by. He was glad the other pain he felt in his midsection was gone for now, figuring that he’d be okay for the rest of the trip then go back and eat dinner with the others. He had no plans to miss dinner, not if they were bringing back good food instead of the kind they had at the retreat. 

He looked around, and then smiled as he picked up a box of soft towels that they could probably use for cleaning babies off and drying them after birth. He was actually happy that he found something useful; also knowing they hadn’t picked baby towels up yet. “Now we’re just waiting on you and your baby friends to be born so we can use these.” Cam smiled, moving his hand over his belly. 

TJ just smiled, walking back to the other. “It’s okay; I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Got no one else to talk to, it’s nice to have someone that will just listen and not complain back to you. Or say that you have a bad idea when it comes to where they should be born.” 

“Nicklas still giving you a hard time?” Cam frowned, soon heading to the registers with TJ. They had more than enough stuff in the cart, and he figured the other would probably make another run later on as others got closer. “Wonder if Matthews got to your husband too.”

“Wouldn’t doubt it.” TJ sighed, walking with the other before they finally got to the register. “Nicklas told me before I got here that it was dangerous, how would I know what to do if there were complications? And he didn’t like the idea that I wanted to do it alone if possible, so I’m sure that Lars would probably be with me regardless.” 

“That is crazy. We all do what we want, and if there were problems you’d see Anya. We just wanted to try and do things without doctors yelling at us and making it harder. We’re not trying to put us or the babies in danger.” Cam replied, breathing in and out slowly as he felt a much sharper pain hit. He tried to ignore it for now, and pretty much let his body do what it wanted to do. 

“I know, but I can’t tell him otherwise. He’d probably be pissed if I still wanted to do it alone, especially since I’m due a month after Lars. And if he’s deemed fit to be set free before baby is born, then it would be out of my hands.” TJ offered a smile before paying for the items, bringing them out to the car.

“I’m going with Kris’ philosophy, just let baby come where it wants to come. If people hate it, I’m sorry. But like you, I don’t want all the doctors screaming at me when we’re doing something that is very hard to do.” Cam smiled; helping TJ put the items in the back before he brought the cart back to the front of the store. He breathed out slowly again, now getting worried since the pain came back pretty quickly after it had left. He just didn’t want to worry the other before they started to head back. 

“Exactly. I mean I trust Anya, she’s a good OB. But I just want to let things happen when they do, not force us to do them you know?” TJ asked softly, getting into the car before looking over at Cam. “Like if our body says for us to push, we will instead of them yelling don’t do it yet!” 

Cam chuckled softly, nodding in agreement. “Exactly. It would be harder on us if we went with the doctors and nurses. Kris did it just fine, and Morgan is still alive. I know Kris wasn’t alone for the birth of his second baby, but still. They’re both alive and the babies are healthy.”

“That’s what I told him. And then he called me something I’d rather not say in front of babies that can hear us.” TJ sighed, shaking his head. “It’s weird… I know he loves me to death, but when I got pregnant a switch turned on in his brain. From murder stare Swede to over protective murder stare Swede. When I started showing, he didn’t want anyone to know yet. And I was like ‘Oh they’ll find out eventually.’”

Cam nodded, smiling as they drove off from the parking lot. But he then closed his eyes and bit back a pained moan, making more of a humming sound as the pain got worse and almost unbearable. He just hoped they would get somewhere that he could try to do something to feel better. 

4pm

Cam looked over to TJ as they finally arrived back at the retreat. He walked very slowly after getting out of the car, looking around their surroundings before he headed toward the buildings. He soon turned toward the rest room, not sure if he was being followed or not, but he went into the larger handicapped stall and locked the door behind him. The pain was beyond unbearable and worse than anything he had ever felt before, even being hit with pucks or checked into the boards. 

“Okay… let’s do this… but don’t let anyone hear you okay?” Cam asked softly, knowing exactly what was going on. And this time he couldn’t stop what was happening, not when his body was screaming at him and he could barely walk. 

He breathed out slowly, removing his shorts and boxers, putting them under him in case he couldn’t catch the baby as it was born. But he also didn’t want Auston to find him in here, so he tried to stay quiet despite how painful it was going to be. He glanced up at the ceiling, already feeling tears in his eyes. 

Cam held onto the railing, moving into an almost frog like position before pushing as hard as he could, biting back a pained moan as he felt the baby moving down like it should. He figured it might be pretty quick since he was upright and gravity was working for him. He soon heard footsteps, slowly and painfully shuffling out of view and scooted his clothes along with him. 

He tried to keep from pushing as long as he could, still hearing a few people around the stall but his body was telling him that he shouldn’t hold back and keep doing what he had been doing. He took off his sweatshirt and placed it in his mouth, biting down on it as he pushed with a little more force, feeling the head move down more, but not quite crowning yet. 

He held his breath as he finally heard the others leaving, but he knew that this was a public bathroom and everyone had a right to use it of course. He breathed through his nose, biting down on the sweatshirt again as he pushed harder, a muffled scream coming out as he felt the head starting to crown and a very unpleasant burning sensation going along with it. He shuffled lightly out of fear and pain, a soft whimper of frustration soon followed as he felt the head go back in a little bit.

Cam hit his palm against the tile lightly, but still enough to show his frustration as he tried to get the baby out without a sound. He took a deep breath and pushed harder, crying out into the shirt as he felt the head get further out before it came out fully. He felt tears fall down his cheeks as he started to breathe shakily, having heard that the shoulders were the worst part. 

He glanced around, breathing slowly to calm himself before he knew he had to get the shoulders free. After a few moments he pushed as hard as he could, a louder muffled scream came out into the shirt as he added just a little more force, feeling the shoulders come out all the way. He moved his hands to help the baby out before pulling it into his arms, finally opening his mouth to remove the sweatshirt and so he could breathe properly. “Oh… hi there…” 

Cam breathed lightly, still trying to calm down before realizing there was no one there at the moment. He moved to clean out the baby’s nose and mouth, smiling a little as he heard a small shaky cry. He just hoped that Auston and Zach wouldn’t find him, and then bring the curse of Bettman into the bathroom. “It’s okay… rude awakening huh? Nice and warm, then brought into the cold world… well bathroom…” 

He checked the baby over before pulling it against him, mostly to keep it warm and somewhat comfortable before he managed to get to the door. He sighed softly, using his shirt to wrap the baby in as a makeshift blanket. “Wonder who that is that just came in…” 

“Cam? You in there?” Nick asked, having heard a baby crying once he walked in the door. “You okay?” 

“Not really… can you help?” Cam asked before he opened the stall door, but closed it quickly after he let Nick in. “Don’t worry, it’s not twins… but I need help with probably the grossest part of all this.”

“Oh hell no…” Nick shook his head, getting a few baby tray liners to help his friend get his newborn cleaned up. “I’ll help get the baby clean, heck hold the baby if you want me to… but I am not going anywhere near down there.” 

“Just cut the cord okay? I’m pretty sure the smaller contractions are the afterbirth and the last thing I want is the baby to get pulled down to the floor when it comes out. So can you please do that?” Cam asked gently. “Use one of my sweatshirt strings; I have plenty of other shirts.” 

“Of course…” Nick nodded, taking the string to tie the cord before he cut it. He carefully took the baby from his friend’s arms, holding it gently while he let Cam do whatever else he had to do. 

“I don’t know why you are so squeamish about this… you’ll be doing this soon. And you said you'd help me last month." Cam sighed, shaking his head. “Or is it because you’d be seeing parts that aren’t for your eyes?”

“Well I wasn’t expecting to help you deliver afterbirth, as well as the second thing. I know we see things in the showers, but this is a little more personal than I care to get with a teammate that isn’t my partner.” Nick replied, turning his head as Cam finally delivered the afterbirth. 

“Fair enough.” Cam nodded, wrapping the afterbirth in a towel before he managed to carefully pull his undergarments and shorts back on. It hurt like hell, but he was willing to walk back to the room with the baby in his arms before getting some of the supplies from TJ that they bought earlier. 

“What are you going to do with that? I know some people eat the thing… but it’s just the grossest thing ever.” Nick shuddered, not wanting to picture the other eating the afterbirth.

“No, I’ll probably give it to Anya who will then read me the riot act. But it’s not like the baby was born in the toilet… and I didn’t give birth in the woods. But she can check to make sure everything’s okay. You don’t have to see that part since it grosses you out that much.” Cam replied, walking slowly out of the bathroom while Nick held the baby. 

“Wasn’t planning on watching her check it out… I’m just helping you since you can barely walk right now.” Nick spoke softly, watching the other as they left the bathroom and headed toward where Anya was. 

“Next month is going to be crazy…” Cam grinned, walking gingerly toward Anya’s location. “So many due… I know they don’t have enough people for those that do choose a hospital like setting. It will be Metro mayhem for sure…” 

“So we have Malkin, Galchenyuk and Hanafin. I guess not as crazy as we think, it’s only three due and only two Metro. So no mayhem next month. But there will be a lot due in a couple months, that will be insanity. I think Anya and the doctors can handle three if they picked to go with her.” Nick smiled, helping his friend toward the maternity section. 

“They won’t. Those three are on Kris and TJ’s side, which seems weird. Especially with the Penguins players siding with a Capitals player. I don’t know what Lars is going to do though, I didn’t talk to him much. Either way, it’s going to be very interesting.” Cam replied, sighing softly as they headed toward their destination, walking through the double doors. 

Nick nodded in agreement, not sure how insane it really was going to be but he could guarantee that it would be pretty darn nuts in two months. Only time would tell how things would go, or if they’d be met with any other surprises. Either way, he was ready for whatever life would throw at them.


	6. When it rains, it pours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More baby chaos ensues with the arrival of Geno, Noah and Alex's babies. 
> 
> Also those that are now a month away from delivering are starting to get more worried with Bettman potentially arriving again, and also worried about Auston seemingly connected to everyone's least favorite person involved with the NHL. However the ones that are on Auston's side aren't as worried compared to those who are against his point of view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As stated, I'm not doing everyone. But for plot's sake and my love for chaos, I'll be including three in this. You'll see who already had their baby behind the scenes so to speak. 
> 
> Also please don't kill me for some partners showing up and other partners not showing up. I am also still taking suggestions for players you all want to see. Don't fret though, I'm still keeping the main ones in the fic or mention them in passing if they were set free when they are recovered enough after delivery.
> 
> For Matthews, I'm not a big fan of his. I know he's probably not a jerk in real life, but in fic purposes he's up there on the annoying scale. As for Nicky, I love him to death. He is just so notoriously private, I can see him keeping things hush hush. (Heck I still freak out when he tweets twice in a week) Or keeping things hush hush until he can't really hide things anymore.
> 
> Yes I messed up in this chapter, I am fixing it now. I forgot Brady is with Ottawa, I meant to put Matthew.

1 month later

“Looks like you three are close to delivering any time now.” Auston grinned, walking past the two Penguins players and the one Flames player left who hadn’t delivered yet. “Are you still sure about delivering on your own and not having help? You heard about Foligno right? That’s why I don’t want anyone doing it alone.” 

Geno rolled his eyes, making sure no one was watching him before he flipped off the younger, focusing his attention on Alex and Noah. “You hear anything? Must be annoying mosquito… or fly. I tell Osh to close windows tonight so we not have mosquitoes.” 

“I know you heard me, Malkin. I just don’t understand why you and the others are so dead set on having your babies in an unsafe manner. What if you and the baby die because of your ignorance? Do we want that?” Auston asked, crossing his arms tightly over his chest while resting on his belly. 

“Nick is alive. He had a hard time, and ended up having a c-section because baby was lying sideways and didn’t want to come out the old fashioned way.” Cam sighed, walking over to two of his rivals and Noah. “I don’t know who is spreading all of this untrue shit about players dying or giving birth alone, there are a lot of us here Matthews. And not everyone is going to do what I did or what others are planning to do. Burkie can’t, not sure about the Kempe brothers and there are more than you think that will more than likely end up going to Anya for their deliveries.” 

“That’s not what I heard.” Auston huffed, wondering where his partner in crime had gone off to. “I heard that the baby was breech and he almost bled out in the living area while trying to deliver it.” 

“Why don’t you go off to your Leaf friends and leave us alone? He knew that he was in trouble, so went to Anya once he realized things weren’t going well. I was there with him; I think I know a hell of a lot more than you do about the situation. He was not in the living room or anywhere around here, he was in the room with me.” Cam shook his head, glaring at the other before sitting down across from the others who weren’t trying to piss off the remaining pregnant players. “And get your fucking facts straight for once… whoever is telling you these things is off their rocker.” 

“You hear Cam, Matthews. Go before we kick you out.” Geno spoke, standing up slowly before moving to turn the shorter and younger male away from him. “Go kiss Bettman ass, you good at that. You not hear peep from us, you never know when babies born. We make sure of it.” 

Auston narrowed his eyes, giving the others a double one finger salute before heading out of the room, shoving past TJ as he went to look for wherever Zach had gone off to. He was determined to not have anyone die and have to endure one in memorial segment or more once he was able to play again. He knew he would find out when the other babies were born, signs of a birth couldn’t be cleared up that easily. 

\-----

“Damn… what got into him?” TJ sighed, walking over to the others. “Do we have to come up with a new plan? You three are due any day now; I have to put up with him for two more months…” 

“He’s just spreading lies again. Like the one about how Tanger almost died? He sees blood and assumes the worst. Birth isn’t clean; I think most of us figured that out by now.” Cam replied, offering a half smile toward TJ. “And now he thinks he saw blood from Nick, he wasn’t even out here when he realized he was in trouble. Sure, he went into labor during breakfast but no one knew it. He was in our room most of the day because he felt awful with the baby being stuck sideways.” 

“I didn’t see any blood at all.” TJ spoke, shaking his head as he sat down with the others. “I still have a plan, and I’ll be damned if Auston stops me… besides, his partner will be coming soon. So maybe he’ll leave us alone then…” 

“Or Marner will talk some sense into him. I don’t think we have to come up with a new plan, but we have to try and stay out of sight when it comes to Auston. But he’ll still find out one way or another, especially if one of us is missing for a long time.” Alex sighed, watching Geno and Noah nod their heads in agreement. 

“I say we try for middle of night when everyone sleeps, that way he not know we gone. And we be back for breakfast, he not know a thing happen. Belly not get flat right away, Tanger lose some weight but still look a little pregnant.” Geno smiled. 

“But what if we go into labor, then the baby decides that he or she is ready before the middle of the night? We can’t exactly keep from pushing, if we don’t do it our bodies will. And then babies will probably literally be born wherever we are.” Noah asked, wishing Johnny was still here. “Heh… I guess Johnny decided being with his partner was more important than staying like he promised.” 

“It’s okay. We’ll be here for you either way, even if we’re not in the same division. As for the birth, I’m willing to try anything to keep Auston from finding out. Unfortunately there are very few places we can hide here, and if we go anywhere that isn’t here, he’ll find out. Why don’t we do what Kaner, Osh and Brandon said? Just let it happen. I’m not going to get freaked out and camp out somewhere for hours just sitting and waiting.” Alex replied, watching the others before carefully standing up. “I wouldn’t mind if the three of us stay together, and if one delivers before the others, we can help each other.” 

“Sound like good idea.” Geno smiled, moving his hand to his back as he watched his teammate and the others stand up along with him. “We do like we say at start of retreat from hell, just go about our day like nothing wrong. If we feel baby come, we go somewhere, have baby then come back. I know place not far that we use if we close enough.”

“I’m sure we’ll find it when it comes time for babies to be born. But you can use it first since it’s your place.” Noah spoke, offering a smile toward Geno before he headed out of the room. He was wondering silently which of them would go first, or which of them could already be in labor and they wouldn’t know it from looking at each other. 

5pm 

“Whoa… who ordered all of this pizza?” Lars asked, smiling as he glanced over toward Auston and Mitch who were cuddled up together on the couch, and for once Auston was quiet around them. He was actually pretty hungry, but part of him didn’t trust random free pizza when it hadn’t been mentioned in the last few hours. 

“I’m wondering that too.” Noah nodded, looking over the pizza before walking slowly toward the drink station. He had been feeling off for the last two days, but didn’t dream of drawing attention to himself and worry his new friends. “Could it be that Auston actually has a heart and isn’t going to bother us? Or is it a trap from Bettman and he has labor inducing stuff in the pizzas?” 

“No such luck unfortunately.” Lars shook his head, smiling as he saw TJ come in with Alex, but Geno wasn’t with them. He frowned, wondering if he was already having his baby and without Auston knowing about it. “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, no change for anyone yet. Geno is uncomfortable but said he was going to take a walk outside, then maybe come back inside for dinner and back to his room. I know he said he wanted to be comfortable when baby decides to come.” Alex replied, picking up a plate before walking toward the same corner table that they had been at before Johnny and Kris had their babies. 

“What if we all deliver at the same time? How the hell would we keep that secret from the Leafs spy?” Noah asked, moving over to the table to sit next to Alex. “That would be beyond suspicious to him I’d think.”

“Okay, I came up with a plan. It may sound stupid, and I apologize ahead of time if it does. But I was thinking, there is this house near the dock that no one has even gone to. Heck, there’s even a pagoda on the dock. However, the bad part is that the pagoda is out in the open. So we’d probably be caught, and there would be a blood trail.” TJ sighed, resting his hands over his belly. 

“If all three of us went there, then yeah it wouldn’t be a good idea. But there are plenty of other places to go, and if we did deliver in our rooms, we could deliver in the tub and just wash away any blood that would end up in the water. We’ll get it figured out.” Alex smiled, putting a hand on TJ’s shoulder. “And we have more than enough supplies so we can avoid the birth suites. But if they are absolutely necessary, we can have someone go in and disassemble anything that may be in there. Cameras of any type, recording devices, what have you.”

“And there is always the middle of the night like Geno mentioned, but also the odds of us being due all on the same day are pretty slim. Probably a day apart or so. So whoever delivers today, then someone else could deliver tomorrow and so on.” Noah nodded, sighing softly as he leaned back against the chair. Part of him wondering if Geno was okay, or if there was something going on that no one knew about. Even if it was something that their group had wanted to do since day one, he was still worried for the older Russian. “Now I’m starting to worry… do you think he’d text you Gally? Or will he be afraid that you’d tell Matthews what’s going on?” 

“Like hell I’d tell Matthews. If he sees me leave, maybe he won’t think anything of it. But I also have a feeling if he knows that we’re due literally any time now he might follow me to see if I’m going to see Anya or not.” Alex sighed, carefully standing up before getting his phone out of his pocket. He frowned as he saw a few texts from Geno, and one sounded pretty panicked. “Okay… um… keep Auston here if you can. If you want to come with me, time it so it doesn’t look suspicious.”

“Is it Geno?” TJ asked, noticing the look on Alex’s face. “And are you okay?”

“I’ll explain everything when you get to our room.” Alex replied before heading down to his and Geno’s room, trying to go as slowly as possible so no one caught on that something was happening. Especially not Auston. 

\-----

“Auston follow?” Geno asked softly, curled up on the bed while letting the tub fill up with warm water. He managed a smile, knowing that Alex would probably be next even if he didn’t look like he was in pain. 

“No, he’s cuddling with his baby daddy. I think we’re good.” Alex smiled a little before rubbing Geno’s back by his hips. “Want me to help you to the tub? It could help make things go a little…” He frowned, pausing as he felt a pain sharp enough to cause his breath to hitch for a moment. He breathed out, holding his hand out to Geno.

“I do by myself, you go to bed. I know that look…” Geno smiled a little, slowly standing up before waddling toward the tub. He turned the water off before slowly getting into it, putting his feet by the faucet and edge of tub after sinking down into the water. “But think my baby come before yours…” 

“Maybe separated by an hour or so…” Alex nodded, sighing as he got stuff set up on the bed before lying back against the pillows, the absorbent cover under his lower half while he got himself ready for the baby’s arrival. 

“TJ coming?” Geno asked, moaning softly as he felt the contractions get worse and the pressure get more intense. “Heh… so much for middle of night…”

“I know right? Noah might hang in there that long... he didn’t look too bad.” Alex smiled, sighing softly as he heard the door open, seeing two welcome faces. “Make sure you lock the door…” 

“My god…” TJ chuckled softly, moving his hand to his back. “Both of you? I thought you looked a little off Alex. You and Geno must have gone into labor last night or sometime yesterday before dinner. So who do you want helping?” 

“You can help Geno, well like get the baby out of the water and all that… I know he doesn’t want more than that. Right?” Alex asked, looking toward the bathroom.

“Right… you help baby out, but I do work okay?” Geno asked softly. “If baby stuck, you help.” 

“Of course. I’ll stay quiet unless you want me to give you words of encouragement.” TJ smiled lightly, moving to sit on the corner of the tub. 

Geno laughed, shaking his head. “We didn’t want that remember? We do what bodies say, no one say when to push or not push.”

“Wasn’t going to do that, trust me. You do what you feel, I’ll just help baby out and get a cold towel for your forehead.” TJ replied, glancing back to the room before watching Geno carefully. He still had no idea how the other teams were doing, but he thought he saw a few partners starting to straggle in. 

Alex had to smile before he tried to get into a slightly more comfortable position, figuring that Geno’s baby would be born before his. “Don’t worry about me… just contractions from hell, but no baby yet.”

Noah smiled, sitting on the corner of the bed while rubbing the side of his belly. “You just help Geno, I’m here in case Alex’s baby decides to say ‘Oh fine, I’m bored in here. Time to meet the outside world.” 

Geno wanted to laugh, but was hit with the worst contraction he had felt, deciding to push along with it, his toes curling on the corner of the tub. He moved his shoulders down a little so he could try to make it a little easier. 

TJ got a cold washcloth, putting it on the other’s forehead. He was secretly wondering who would be left out of their group when he was ready to have his own baby, by 2 months he figured that all the Penguins would be gone along with the Blue Jacket players. “I’ll be the only Metro person left in a couple months…”

“No… we stay. You help us, we help you…” Geno spoke softly before taking a deep breath and pushing again, a little harder this time as he moved his hands to hold onto the edge of the tub and the towel holder with his other hand. He shifted his weight slightly, moving his feet apart a little more. 

“Exactly. You were there for Tanger, you’re here for us…” Alex frowned, a soft whimper escaping his lips as he moved to his side to try and alleviate some of the pain. “And we’ll keep you safe from Matthews if he doesn’t go into labor before you do.” 

TJ had to laugh, carefully brushing Geno’s hair back. “One can only hope he does so I can do this without worry. But I appreciate the sentiment, and I’ll repay you somehow.” 

“Just talk to Tom and we’ll work out the rest. Maybe we can go a game without him trying to kill us? Or at least not to fight him, we don’t want to get our bell rung on our first game back.” Alex smiled, nuzzling his head into the pillow. 

Geno grinned lightly, soon pushing as hard as he could, this time a pained moan escaping his lips as he thought he felt the head starting to come out. That part really didn’t feel good, causing him to hold onto the towel holder a little tighter than he had meant to hold it. “Holy…” 

“Easy… I’ve been told this is the worst part. You got this…” TJ spoke softly, putting the towel back on Geno’s forehead. 

“Didn’t say it burn like hell…” Geno spoke softly, taking a few moments before pushing again, putting some more force behind it as he cried out, saying quite a few choice words in Russian as he felt the head come out a little more. “Come on…” 

“Oh I know those words…” Alex grinned, shifting slightly so he was now moved to a sitting on his knees position. “Don’t know what baby wants to do… I just want to make this easy on me mostly.”

Noah smiled, wincing slightly. “You’re fine. This might help baby come down easier, like if it’s just chilling out, the gravity will help force it down. And then before he or she knows it, they’ll be in the outside world.” 

“And Auston says we don’t pay attention to Anya…” TJ chuckled softly. “She’s my doctor anyway so I think I have the upper hand on him. She knows what I’m planning, so he really can’t threaten me with telling her.”

Geno breathed slowly before pushing hard, cursing as he felt the head come out all the way before he also felt some of the shoulders. “Okay… TJ… you catch baby? Almost here…”

“Of course.” TJ nodded, carefully getting off the corner of the tub before moving toward the end, grabbing a towel before draping it over the toilet seat. Soon kneeling down carefully to gently hold the baby’s shoulders. “Just one big push okay? I got the shoulders.” 

Geno nodded, giving one last hard push before he fell back lightly against the back of the tub, panting as he felt the baby come out with TJ’s help. He closed his eyes, trying to register what just happened in his mind. 

TJ smiled, carefully lifting the baby out of the water. “Noah, can you get me the scissors and something to tie the cord with unless you can find a cord clamp in the closet. Oh my goodness… you’re giving me the Crosby glare already little one.” 

Geno chuckled softly, carefully taking the baby from TJ before placing it against his chest. “Sid say we have boy… look like he right. I teach him to not hate you though… you help him be born.” 

“You did the hard work; I just helped him out and cut his cord.” TJ smiled, taking the scissors from Noah, making sure to tie off the cord before he cut it. “Want me to help you out of the tub? Or wait until the afterbirth comes out?” 

“You can help me out… maybe afterbirth come out on its own.” Geno managed a smile before holding one hand up to TJ while supporting the newborn against him as he slowly stood up. “And I check on Alex, see how he’s doing.” 

“You did very well Geno. I hope I do that well, I’d probably be screaming…” Noah frowned, watching TJ help the taller Russian out of the tub. He made a face as the afterbirth came out with a small splash into the tub. “Okay, that’s gross…”

TJ just smiled, walking carefully to the bed before helping Geno lie down on the other side that also had the absorbent padding placed down just in case the baby was born there instead of the tub. “Gross, but good he got it out. How are you doing?”

“I’ve felt better, but it’s better that we’re all together instead of risking a certain Leaf finding us.” Noah replied, frowning as he rubbed his hip. He sighed softly, wondering if he should stay here or head back to his own room. 

“Let me know if you need anything okay?” TJ spoke, figuring he’d probably be busy next month too with trying to help Lars if Tom wasn’t there. “I’m like the last one in the Metro I think, but don’t quote me on that.”

Geno laughed, wincing as he lay back with his newborn against him. “Not last, you be last Capital. Islanders have one left, Carolina have two and New Jersey still have two. Penguins done, Alex last Penguin.” 

7pm

“Okay… I think baby is finally ready to meet us. You doing okay Noah?” Alex asked softly, managing to get a few pillows behind him for support so he could try to get the baby out easier. He also wanted to try and be quiet since Geno was sleeping next to him.

“Still a little uncomfortable, well a lot uncomfortable. But I said I’d stay here, I’m not going to leave. Let’s meet your little one yeah?” Noah smiled, sitting on the corner of the bed. “I won’t do anything unless you want me or TJ to, we’ll leave it totally up to you.”

Alex smiled, taking a deep breath while holding onto the side of the bed before pushing as hard as he could, biting back a pained moan. He glanced over at Geno before leaning back against the pillow, closing his eyes halfway.

“A little harder, Gally. I know you probably don’t want to hear that, but baby wants out. I can’t see much right now, but I think you’ll start crowning in the next push or two.” TJ spoke gently, seeing some change happening. 

“Yeah… thought I felt it moving to the outside without me doing anything…” Alex spoke softly, taking another deep breath before pushing even harder, biting into a towel as he felt the head start to come out more, coupled with a not so pleasant burning sensation. 

“Baby will be out really soon, he or she really wants to meet you.” TJ smiled, keeping an eye on Noah before focusing his attention back to Alex. 

Alex nodded, pushing harder as a pained moan escaped his lips, tears running down his face as he felt the head come out all the way. He only took a couple of breaths through his nose before giving it all he had, adding a little more force to the push before he felt the shoulders come out too as he collapsed back against the pillows. “Tell me it’s out…” 

TJ nodded, carefully easing the baby out the rest of the way before drying it off with the towel. He waited a little bit before tying off the cord, then cut it and got the baby wrapped up in a clean towel, placing it on Alex’s chest. “Little girl. Peach fuzz for hair, so I can’t tell who she takes after.” 

“Oh she is so cute.” Noah smiled, not minding when TJ helped Alex get the afterbirth out. “I think she has Alex’s nose for sure… can’t tell about her eyes yet.” 

“We’ll let you and Geno rest. Nicky said he’d call me in a little bit, probably to make sure I see Anya if anything goes wrong, or to talk me into seeing her anyway.” TJ sighed, shaking his head as he and Noah headed out of the room. 

“What are you going to do?” TJ asked softly, watching Noah after closing the door behind them. “I can tell that you’re not feeling great, probably in labor. And the last thing I want is for something to happen to you and the baby.”

“Don’t know… like it hurts, but I’ve been feeling it for awhile now. Maybe Geno’s right and I’ll end up delivering in the middle of the night. Connor’s across the hall, so he might be able to help if things go down.” Noah replied, offering a faint smile.

“It’s not if, it’s when. Just be careful okay? If you need me at all, just text. I’ll waddle down as fast as I can waddle.” TJ chuckled softly, heading down toward their rooms. “Don’t be afraid to call either. Of course if you want to do this alone, that’s fine too. I’ll probably come by to check on you in the morning if I don’t hear anything.” 

“Okay. Goodnight, TJ.” Noah replied, heading into his room before closing the door behind him. He decided to try and get some sleep, figuring maybe baby would want to wait until morning or maybe later that evening. He wasn’t going to force matters of course, that wouldn’t be good for him or baby.

1am

Noah whimpered softly, shifting every so often to try and get comfortable. The pressure was unbearable at this point, but he was also scared to death. He didn’t want to do something wrong, or hurt himself and the baby. He wanted to try this alone, but the back of his mind told him to get help. “What do I do baby?” 

After a few moments he texted TJ and Connor to see which one would answer first, but he’d accept help from either of the two at this point. He was just in so much pain, he couldn’t really think clearly as it was. He knew what his body was telling him to do, so he finally went along with the pain and pushed as hard as he could, crying out into his pillow. 

Connor knocked on the door gently, but could hear shuffling and a stifled scream. He looked over at TJ who came up next to him and offered a faint smile toward the other. “Guess everyone was right. Do you have things we need, or will he have it in his room?”

“I made sure it was fully stocked last week since he was so close. So everything we need should be in the closet.” TJ replied, opening the door quietly, holding it open for Connor before shutting it behind himself. “We should keep Geno around; maybe he’ll tell us when we’ll deliver.”

“That would be something…” Noah spoke softly, staying on his side. “Is baby stuck? Like I feel pressure, but didn’t feel anything when I pushed…”

“How long have you been trying?” TJ asked carefully, watching Connor gather things for the baby and for Noah. “You might need to change position to help baby move down, or do you think it’s the wrong way?”

“I don’t know…” Noah replied, closing his eyes halfway. “I only just started pushing before you came in the door… like it hurts, but I don’t know if it’s head or butt first…” 

“May I check to see what’s going on? You can hold Connor’s hand, then I might help you change position so we can get baby here.” TJ smiled, watching Noah take Connor’s hand before he went to see what was going on to cause the other so much pain. 

“How do you know so much? You said this is your first like most of us…” Noah asked as he held Connor’s hand, taking a sharp breath as he felt TJ checking him. “Or is there something that you don’t want Auston to find out?”

“Careful, he might barge in here if he hears his name…” TJ spoke quietly, moving back carefully. “I’ll have you prop your shoulders against the headboard, you’re probably too uncomfortable on your side or to move too much more. It’s head first, but looks like a big baby. If you need our help, Connor and I can move you to your knees. But go ahead and try pushing as hard as you can. As for why I know so much? Let’s just say, sometimes the world has cruel plans… then as quickly as life is taken away, it is given back…” 

Noah frowned, taking a deep breath before pushing as hard as he could. He tried to bite back another pained moan, not wanting Auston or anyone to come barging in if they heard he was having a hard time. 

“Does anyone know?” Connor asked carefully, giving Noah’s hand a gentle squeeze. “That’s good… you’re doing a great job. Do you want us to help you up a little?” 

“I’m trying…” Noah spoke quietly, squeezing Connor’s hand gently. “If it doesn’t work this time, go ahead…” 

“Nicky, obviously… part of why he’s been so against me wanting to do this alone. I told him I’d have friends if I need help. I just don’t want to see the look on Anya’s face if something happens… I’ll tell you about it later okay? Let’s try to help Noah.” TJ replied, managing a smile as they tried to help their fellow player and companion. 

“You’re definitely driven, I’ll give you that.” Connor smiled, although he felt bad for TJ and what happened to him. “Alright Noah, you’ll be okay. And baby will be okay too; I don’t think the province of Alberta would be too happy if I let a rival get hurt or worse.” 

Noah laughed, shaking his head. “No they won’t… Edmonton and Calgary would hate each other more than we do now.”

“Why do you think I was with Alex and Geno?” TJ asked softly. “Alright, I know you’re exhausted by now if you’ve been in labor almost 2 days now. I just want you to try and push for me, if that doesn’t work Connor and I will help you up so you’re on your knees.” 

Noah nodded, taking a deep breath before pushing as hard as he could, trying not to cry out with the pain. He was frustrated, scared and in more pain than he had been all day. He couldn’t help but utter a few curses, not directed toward anyone in the room with him, but just frustration in general. 

3am

“Okay, I think we’re finally getting somewhere. Baby is finally starting to crown, Connor will help by gently pressing down on the top of your belly to help baby come out. But only as you’re pushing, we don’t want to hurt you or baby.” TJ spoke gently, he knew they were all tired but they also wanted to help Noah.

“Last time I get pregnant… that’s for sure…” Noah spoke tiredly, taking a deep breath before pushing as hard as he could, holding onto the headboard while Connor pressed down on his belly, this time he did feel the head starting to come out finally, it was not a good feeling with the burning sensation. 

“Good job! We’ll do that and I’ll help baby out once we get to the shoulders, so about two more really good pushes. And I don’t blame you, must have some big babies in Calgary.” TJ smiled, putting a cold washcloth on Noah’s forehead. 

“Oh I think we do… Johnny’s was big also…” Noah nodded, stifling a scream as he pushed even harder, feeling more of the head starting to come out. He didn’t think he could do this again in the future, if it did happen he’d beg for a c-section. 

“There we go… just one more and I’ll help the rest of the way. Looks pretty cute so far.” TJ smiled, getting some towels and a tie to get the cord tied off. “I guess it better be if it’s causing this much trouble.”

“All babies are cute…” Noah smiled, a soft whimper escaping his lips as he gave one last hard push before moving back against Connor’s arms. He panted lightly, watching TJ help the baby out all of the way. “Oh… good lord, big enough to start kindergarten….”

Connor laughed, brushing his rival’s hair back. “Who’s the father? I think baby got his genes… he’s pretty big.”

“Wonder how that happened…” Noah spoke softly, watching TJ clean the newborn up. "Matthew's not all that big either…” 

“He looks about 9 pounds, maybe a little over.” TJ spoke quietly; making sure the baby boy was cleaned up before he put a newborn diaper on him and got him wrapped up in the blanket. “And who knows, maybe Matthew’s family had some big babies on his side. We’ll let you get some rest, or do you want Connor to stay?”

“If he wants to stay, I’d love that. Of course I’m not going to force the issue if he doesn’t want to.” Noah replied, he just knew he didn’t want to be left alone right now. “You get some rest TJ, look like you need it.”

“Thanks.” TJ grinned, brushing Noah’s hair back. “I’ll keep things on the down low; you bond with your baby. I’ll see you later today or tomorrow, depending on how you feel.” He added before heading out of the room and back to his own, hoping that maybe things would go better and that more partners would be allowed to come here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is just going to be the next day, don't plan on any births going on. 
> 
> The chapter after that will have some births since I know people want to see Andre and a couple others have their babies. With TJ, that chapter will be nuts but I will probably do what I did in this one and pick and choose, or split it. Up to you all since so many are due in the same month.


	7. Rival bonding

“TJ, wake up. Someone’s here to see you.” Lars spoke, his Danish accent coming through slightly. He gently shook the other’s shoulder, knowing he was probably exhausted from last night and early this morning while he was helping out with Geno, Alex and Noah. 

“If it’s Bettman, he can stick his head up…” TJ muttered, nuzzling into the pillow the best he could while curled up on his side. He didn’t bother finishing that sentence since he knew that Bettman had the power over pretty much all the players in the league, and as much as he disliked him, there was nothing he could do. 

“Nah, I’m not that good looking.” Kris laughed, sitting on the corner of TJ’s bed. “Sorry to get your hopes up, Osh. Just thought I’d warn you about more Penguins coming in. You guys are still hanging in there, wouldn’t think anything less.” 

“It’s okay Tanger… but why are you still here?” TJ yawned, carefully turning over onto his back before sitting up against the headboard. “And trust me; you are better looking than Bettman. Who knocked you guys out of contention?” 

Kris chuckled before sitting on the corner of the bed. “Well thank you for that, I like to think so. And I’m here to check on you since Nicky isn’t here, plus you helped me out.”  
TJ smiled, sighing softly as he rested his hands over his belly. “Was it us? Columbus? Islanders? Carolina?” 

“Carolina. Your guys are holding up pretty well against Columbus, and they’re down as many guys as you are.” Kris smiled, watching the other before looking at Lars. “You okay?”  
“Don’t worry; I’m not going to follow Geno and Alex. I’m fine.” Lars smiled. “I’ll let you two talk, and I’ll keep an eye out for Sid and the others.” 

“And Noah…” TJ yawned, shaking his head lightly. “But I bet you’re not here to talk to me about playoffs or warning me about more of you guys coming in.” 

“You got me.” Kris replied, moving to a chair so he was sitting next to the bed. “I promise I’ll let you go back to sleep after this. First off, I am happy that you helped Alex and Geno out with their deliveries. I was taking care of the twins, so I couldn’t get there in time. And unfortunately I’ll be leaving before your baby is born.”

“I’d do anything to help you, even if it’s helping a Penguin.” TJ grinned, reaching out to Kris’s hand before giving it a friendly squeeze. “I was there for you, and I wanted to try and help your friends out too. Maybe get some good words in with the hockey gods.” 

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. We’re all good.” Kris smiled, returning the squeeze. “But what was it that you told Noah and Alex? Geno was asleep so he didn’t hear anything.”

“Oh… didn’t think they would say anything.” TJ frowned, moving his hair back gently. “Nicky is super protective over me, and doesn’t want me to do anything risky because of what happened not that long ago.” 

“What do you mean? There wasn’t even a mention of you being injured, except for Foegle messing up your collarbone.” Kris smiled a little, gauging TJ for any sort of reaction. “That happened in April, so were you expecting and no one was aware of it?” 

“No one knew except for Anya and Nicky. Figured that I’d be okay if I didn’t give big hits to anyone you know? I obviously didn’t make it to full term, but I did a lot of research and went to classes. It was kind of funny being the only one who wasn’t even showing, but sad in hindsight.” TJ sighed softly, blinking as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“And I know you understand why Nicky is the way he is. But he should also understand that you’re well past the safe point now, and baby is obviously doing well. Or is he worried that something awful will happen between now and two months from now?” Kris asked, gently rubbing TJ’s shoulder. 

“Well with all the reports that I’m sure Bettman is sending to everyone, it probably isn’t making him feel better. I’m sure if the worst happens, he’ll come rushing here and whisk me away to the best hospital in DC and take Anya with us.” TJ replied, carefully sitting up before moving to sit on the side of the bed. “And Tom will do the same with Lars…”

“You okay? I know this is hard on everyone here. Especially you and everyone else that probably wants to try and do this on their own if possible.” Kris smiled a little, helping TJ sit up. “Want to head to breakfast?” 

“Well it’s almost lunch now, but what the hell. I slept long enough, knowing Auston he’d wander in here with Marner and drag me out. Try to talk some sense into me you know?” TJ shook his head. “I’m not telling him about the miscarriage, which will just add fuel to the fire. That is the last thing I want.” 

12 pm

“You’re among the living. Thought maybe you actually followed our advice and went to visit Anya. Of course you’re not due for awhile, so no reason to see her right?” Auston grinned, earning a few glares from the other players around him. 

“Where is Mitch? You were all over him yesterday.” TJ huffed, crossing his arms over his chest while trying to ignore Auston by turning around to find some food. “I don’t know what more you want from us.” 

“Getting food. Where is Nicklas?” Auston asked, but soon saw a few familiar faces walk into the dining area. “Call for backup?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, I didn’t call anyone. And Nicklas is still in the playoffs.” TJ replied, shaking his head as he headed toward the sandwiches, but then heard at least two familiar voices. “Not me, but I know who did.”

“When will you learn not to bite off more than you can chew?” Sid asked, moving in front of Auston. “I’m not at liberty to say why we’re here at the request of Kris. But it does involve you and Zach; you can probably fill in the blanks.” 

“How do you even know what is going on here? You don’t have social media. Unless you and Malkin have some sort of bond that we don’t know about.” Auston spoke, trying to move around Sid but was only stopped by Patrik. “You too Hornqvist? We’re not even rivals, so why are you surrounding me?” 

“Just head over to Marner, we came to see if we can help. Not make matters worse.” Sid replied, moving aside before he walked over to TJ and Kris. He sighed softly, now realizing what Kris was talking about in his phone call. 

\-----

“He has never been that bad.” Patrik spoke, shaking his head as he headed to the corner tables with TJ, Sid and Kris. “What do you think started him acting like a jack ass?” 

“About 7 months ago…” TJ sighed, sitting at the table with his sandwich and drink. “I don’t know. We don’t really play him that often, so I don’t know why he is being this way toward us. It’s not just me; it’s pretty much all the Metro players here. I haven’t heard him talk to his division that way before.” 

“He got testy with the Pacific too from what I could tell, he wasn’t too happy with the Flames players, and god knows he’ll be upset with McDavid too. Or so Geno told me.” Sid sighed, sitting down with the others. “Is that what happened Tanger?” 

“He’s had a bee in his bonnet since Bettman showed up the first day. Like what we wanted to do, or still want to do in some cases, is the end of the world and we’ll all go to hell if we didn’t want to see Anya to get medical intervention.” Kris replied, looking over his shoulder to make sure that no one siding with Auston could hear them. 

“Nah… he worships the ground Bettman walks on. He’s just been acting like his right hand man, reporting if we do something wrong or seen as wrong in his eyes.” TJ shook his head, sipping on his tea. “The only ones who have bees in anything would be us; he’s being a literal pain in the ass. And if we’re due even close to him, he’d drag us with him and toss us into those fancy delivery rooms. Then tell Bettman to lock the doors and keep the keys safeguarded so we can’t escape.” 

“What are you going to do? There are a few others due with you too.” Sid asked gently, sensing that TJ was still pretty ticked off at the whole situation. “And we can guarantee next month will be crazy, but you can also guarantee Auston will be busy helping his right hand man. He’s due next month isn’t he?” 

“That’s right… so the Kempe brothers, Lars, and a few others will be safe. Andre though, I know he has to see Anya. So we’re leaving him out of the conversation, I know he’s not doing it to spite us. He’s doing it because of medical necessity.” TJ replied, frowning lightly. “Zach has no say in it either apparently, but he seemed to follow what Auston says. So Anya and her staff could be busy.”

Sid nodded, hesitantly putting a hand on TJ’s shoulder. He knew the two were at odds during the season, but that was on the ice. Off the ice everyone was different, but he also knew that TJ was usually outgoing and friendly anyway. He did offer a genuine smile though, especially since the other did help his partner out. 

“Sid?” TJ blinked, looking over at him. “If it’s about that high stick…”

“That was months ago.” Sid chuckled softly, the smile not leaving his face. “No, it’s not about that. That was in game play, we’re all different off the ice. I just wanted to thank you for being there to help Geno, I know he wanted to do it like you want to. But I’m glad you were there to help the baby out. Do you need anyone with you when you go see Anya?” 

“Hey, I’m willing to help anyone out. I’d do it again if I had to.” TJ smiled, feeling a light squeeze on his shoulder. “I was there to help Kris, well I held a baby but still… I was there for him. But if anyone wishes to come with me, that would be good. Kind of alone right now since Nicky is out there without me.” 

“I’ll go.” Kris smiled, helping TJ up from his chair. “I think Sid and Patrik deserve to see their babies for the first time. I’m sure Connor will be arriving soon, I didn’t see him yet.”

“You’ll be surprised when you go back to your room, Tanger. That’s all I’ll say.” Sid grinned, heading down the hall with Patrik to see how their respective partners and babies were doing. Of course he had to grin at some of the others moving out of his way, or flipping him off. 

\-----

“TJ?” Anya smiled, seeing him walk into the room with Kris. “I haven’t seen you since you got here, but I didn’t tell Bettman. We’re already overwhelmed as it is.” She sighed softly, but shook her head as she closed the door behind him. 

“We can only imagine.” Kris nodded, sitting next to the bed after helping TJ get up on it. “And we can only guess how upset he is with those that had babies without your help or your staff’s help. I just don’t like his restrictions, especially with partners.” 

“I’m not worried about that, and I am definitely not upset either. Granted I would normally advise against delivering in a boat house, but you and your twins ended up doing well. But again I’m not upset with you, or anyone else that had their babies elsewhere.” Anya smiled, letting TJ lie back before moving his shirt up slightly. 

“We came up with the idea of letting the babies come where they will, just so we didn’t have to have everyone yelling at us what to do. Kane and Saad are doing it too, but we’ll see what happens with them. Auston probably got to them.” TJ sighed, glancing over at Anya before turning his direction to Kris. 

“No, I think the Central swore off talking to the Atlantic also. Or at least one part of them.” Kris smiled, watching Anya squirt the gel on TJ’s belly. “I don’t miss the gel.” 

“I use warm gel, trust me… I know it’s not fun having cold gel all over your belly.” Anya smiled, making sure the monitor was on before she slowly started moving the transceiver along the gelled area. “But please, make sure that they see me or one of the other OBs here. If they don’t want to deliver here, that’s fine. I just want to make sure there are no surprises like Kris or Morgan happening.” 

“Of course.” Kris nodded, watching TJ turn his attention to the monitor. He had to smile as well, almost chuckling as the baby had its back to the transceiver. “Okay, definitely Nicky’s baby. He or she doesn’t seem to like being photographed.”

“Nah… Nick is okay for the camera. He actually smiles for it sometimes, scary I know. Especially since he rarely smiles.” TJ smiled, letting Anya rub his belly to get the baby to turn. “There we go… okay, yeah… I see it. I know that stare anywhere.”

“I bet when baby comes out that will be the first thing we see. Baby Swede murder stare.” Kris chuckled lightly, squeezing TJ’s hand lightly. 

“Wouldn’t doubt it.” Anya smiled, moving the transceiver slowly along the belly to make sure that everything was okay. “Now… I know you want to do this on your own terms. But please keep me in mind if anything goes wrong, or if something doesn’t feel right. I’ll drop what I’m doing and help you. From my estimates, the baby will be good sized when born. At least 8 pounds if not a little more.”

“I know…” TJ spoke softly, watching the baby for a moment before turning toward Anya. “I told Nicky that I would go to you if anything goes wrong, or if anything feels off. I just want to try and do this my way first.” 

“And I promise not to mention you two being friends to anyone in your division, last time I checked the Penguins and Capitals were bitter rivals.” Anya smiled, doing one last check before she printed off the pictures for TJ. She made sure to clean off his belly from the gel and helped him sit up. “But everything looks good; baby is starting to turn head down so that’s what we want to see.” 

“Thank you Anya.” TJ smiled, getting off the table with Kris’ help. “I should let you go back and see Sheary… if I don’t see you again before this baby comes, I’ll keep you updated.”

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that. Maybe you can name them after me?" Kris grinned, making sure that TJ was safe on the floor. "Nah, I don't think Kris Backstrom sounds good. French Canadian and Swedish... eh... I'll let you come up with the name." 

TJ laughed, shaking his head. "Well I'll tell the baby that Penguins aren't all bad. Take care okay?" He smiled, watching Kris head off toward his room before he turned toward his own. He knew the next two months would be interesting for sure, but he was ready for whatever happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter is short, I'm sorry.
> 
> I'm not in a good place mentally due to all of this crap going on in the world. But the next chapter should hopefully brighten everyone's spirits right? 
> 
> Baby chaos and maybe a little just desserts. 
> 
> I'm also seriously missing RPing certain things now... one RP partner on Discord is breaking my heart because I still can't RP stuff that I want to RP.


	8. Pay For What You Get

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead!
> 
> I've just been in a bad place mentally. I guess the pandemic didn't warrant writing inspiration to hit me. Well it did, but I couldn't finish this chapter in a timely fashion so it was a rather long wait and I apologize.
> 
> One surprise will be happening in this chapter, but I don't want to spoil anything. Although I'm sure you can probably figure it out. If not, you will be surprised. All I ask is that you don't flame me for said surprise. 
> 
> Those that delivered are: Tyler Taffoli, Riley Sheahan, Taylor Hall, Elias Petterson and Brock Boeser
> 
> Also also, I didn't intend to make Mitch out so badly. I know he's a good person, so I hope I didn't totally F that up.

1 month later

Patrick walked into the dining hall with Brandon, keeping an eye out for Auston and Mitch. He knew that the numbers of players have gone down over the last few weeks, most of them having delivered and been given the all clear to head back with their partners and new babies. Others having just delivered and were staying out of sight to recover and bond with their babies, and partners if they were present after they were out of playoff contention. But he could also feel some tension in the air as they walked over toward the bagels, bacon and scrambled eggs section. 

“You okay?” Brandon asked, looking over at Patrick as he stopped in his tracks. “We’re a month early, and I don’t think delivery in front of the bacon tray was discussed as an option. Or is there something else on your mind?”

“It’s eerily quiet… not even Auston hovering over us like this pesky desert mosquito. Geno isn’t here, so he can’t defend us. Most of our backup is gone, and the only one we can count on is still in the playoffs.” Patrick sighed, picking up a few pieces of bacon to go with his bagels and scrambled eggs.

“They won’t let Chara in anyway; the Boston boys are still two months away from delivering. And the Bruins are still in it as far as I know. I miss Geno’s quips toward Auston. I haven’t seen TJ either; I imagine he’ll be torn between being with Lars and with Andre. I just hope he’s okay, he’s been taking a lot of crap from Matthews because of what we decided.” Brandon spoke, picking up some sausages with two bagels, the orange juice and scrambled eggs.

“If anything happens, I’m sure we’ll be told. Mitch gave us the run down yesterday out of everyone who had their babies.” Patrick sighed, moving to sit over at the table with his friend. It was just so surreal, and quiet. He noticed none of the ones due any time now were out of their rooms yet either. 

“With some exaggeration I’m sure.” Brandon chuckled lightly, moving one hand over his belly before he saw Adrian wander in. “Well here’s one that’s brave enough to wander out with Matthews on the loose.”

“Funny.” Adrian chuckled lightly, sighing as he sat down slowly. “Mario booted me out of the room… I told him that I wanted to be with him, but he insisted that he’s fine. He wanted Anya anyway, so… but said he'd also accept whoever else wanted to help him. He's not dead set on her like someone else we know and tolerate.” 

“I have a feeling she’ll be pretty busy over the next day or so. So if he is in labor, he better get down to her now before anyone else gets down there.” Patrick smiled. “Aren’t you two due close to each other?” 

“Ironically he’s due today, I still have a couple days left. I’m sure I’ll find out if he is, Tyler is talking to him via text. So I’ll let them talk, and I’ll hang out until I get bored. And then I’ll probably get a text saying that he’s either in labor or has given birth already.” Adrian smiled, rubbing the side of his belly.

“What are your plans? If he kicked you out of your room, where will you deliver if baby wants to join his or her cousin?” Patrick asked.

“I plan on doing what your group is doing. Wherever baby says they’re ready to come out, so be it. If it’s outside, bedroom, shower… wherever I am when the birthing part happens. Labor I’ll try to walk around and not let anyone figure out what is going on.” Adrian replied, the smile not leaving his face. 

“Good idea. If you need us, just let one of us know. We’re going to have our hands full today I believe, it’s a full moon so…” Brandon laughed.

“Oh that will be chaos; I heard babies can be born on a full moon. I still don’t understand why, but probably something to do with the different gravity or something. But I’m sure I’ll see you two later.” Adrian smiled, soon heading down the hallway, then turning toward the doors that led outside. 

1 pm

Lars frowned lightly as he curled up on the bed, he had no idea where TJ was, and he knew Tom was still in playoff contention with the other guys. But he was all alone, scared and in more pain than he had ever been in for his entire hockey life, possibly his regular life as well. He didn’t know what was going on, other than a searing pain going through his entire body. 

He texted TJ, asking where the heck he was. But if he didn’t get a response he would do this on his own, even though he didn’t feel pressure yet. All he did know was that the pain increased probably tenfold since this morning, and much more than that since yesterday afternoon. So far the only thing he was feeling was discomfort, his hips hurting more and his back pretty much killing him. 

Lars breathed out slowly, holding onto the spare pillow as he attempted to relax and not worry so much about where his friend was, or worry about what would happen if no one was there to help him. He closed his eyes as he tried to get some sleep, hoping he could rest up for what was more than likely going to happen today. 

\-----

“Auston… will you stop doing that?” Zach asked softly, glaring at his friend as he gathered up every possible thing they would need for going to the delivery suite. “The suites are already stocked… I wanted you with me, not acting like a mother hen collecting nesting materials…” 

“I wanted to make sure you have the best things possible, so I’m packing a bag for you. I’ll even make sure that Anya will be the one delivering your baby, nothing will go wrong.” Auston replied, getting one more bag before he went over to the side of the bed to help Zach down the hallway to the delivery suite.

“I can only imagine what you’d do when you go into labor yourself…” Zach sighed, biting back a pained whimper. He honestly didn’t really want to go to the suite, but he knew that Auston would drag him, which became evident as the other pulled him up to his feet from the bed. “Careful! The baby isn’t coming out yet… you can be a little gentler okay?” 

“I don’t want to take any chances.” Auston huffed, heading out of the door before holding it for his friend. “Let’s get going.” 

Zach sighed, glaring daggers at the other’s back as they headed down the hall. But then he felt something pop, followed by an unknown sticky liquid running down his legs, his gray shorts now darker on the inside leg. “Um… okay… we can hurry now…” 

Auston put his arm around Zach’s waist, soon opening one of the doors to a suite after walking down the hall a few feet, grateful no one was using this one. He didn’t see any medical staff, but he did know where the buzzer was to call for assistance. “Just hit that button over there, I’m not going to leave you.” 

Zach thought he could hear some form of elation coming from outside the door, but also figured that the pain was making him hear things. He knew others weren’t fond of Auston, so they would probably try to make it that they don’t have to deal with giving birth in fear of him popping up. He shook his head, carefully moving himself onto one of the beds before hitting the call button. 

“You heard that too?” Auston asked, making sure that Zach was comfortable before he went to gather things that the doctors would need. He figured they’d bring their own things, but he wanted to help and make sure that Zach got the best care possible.

“Guess I wasn’t hallucinating.” Zach sighed, moving one hand over his belly while he lay back against the pillow. “Which of the doctors do you want in here with me? Anya has a large staff from my understanding… and we haven’t seen Burakovsky all day or last night.” 

“Well TJ said that she is the best, so of course I would want her. But I can go with one of her staff since they trained under her, so they should know what they’re doing.” Auston replied, pacing slightly as he waited for someone to come into the room. 

“Relax will you? I’m surprised you haven’t gone into premature labor yet with how much you’re stressing out over everyone else. Let them do their own thing okay? They haven’t died… and as nice as this suite is, if I’m being honest I wanted to do it my own way too. Let John be by my side and just do it how it was intended. You want to have a baby with Anya helping, go ahead… don’t force all of us to do what you want.” Zach sighed, a low whimper escaping his lips as he felt a harder contraction come up. 

“Where the hell is she…” Auston sighed, glancing back at Zach. “Did Oshie get to you? Kaner? Saad?” 

“No. Just stop it…” Zach huffed, turning over on his side while trying to tune Auston out. “Look… I’m trying to get through labor to deliver this baby. There are other people due within a few days of each other. And believe it or not, Andre is higher priority than I am. Just do me a favor and take a walk or something.” 

\-----

Auston sighed, exiting the room for a few moments. His main mission was to find Anya and drag her down to Zach’s suite. Of course he didn’t expect to see Landeskog looking like death warmed over, or TJ standing next to him. “Gabe?”

“What the fuck do you want Matthews? If you’re looking for Anya, she’s busy. I suggest you get out of the way and get back to whatever hole you crawled out of. We have to take Andre down to the medical building, not because you want him to. But because he’s been in labor for the last 10 hours and he’s having some difficulties. Now go!” Gabe growled, all but pushing Auston against the wall before he saw Anya and one of her assistants wheel Andre out on a stretcher with TJ holding his hand. 

“I wasn’t… I was looking for Anya because Zach is in labor and I only wanted the best doctor for him.” Auston spoke, but didn’t expect TJ to come up to him with what could only be described as extreme hatred in his eyes, definitely a departure from his usual demeanor. He also thought the older only reserved that look for rivals, like the Blackhawks when he was with the Blues or the Penguins now that he’s with the Capitals. 

“There are other doctors here Matthews. Someone will come and take care of your lackey, trust me. But this is not the time or the place to tell us what to do, or to drag Anya away from a life or death matter. And if you were only in that room with me, you would understand. But you only care about yourself!” TJ hissed, watching Gabriel head down with Anya, her assistant and Andre on the stretcher. 

Auston sighed, narrowing his eyes toward the group heading down the hall. “You better have someone come down here to help him.” 

“He can do it by himself…” TJ growled, giving Auston a double one finger salute before waddling as fast as he possibly could behind the others headed toward the medical center. 

Medical Center

“Okay, Andre… let me see what is going on with baby okay?” Anya spoke gently, hooking him up to an IV, a unit of blood and made sure he was hooked up to monitors to check on his heartbeat, the baby’s heartbeat and the contractions. “Yeah, baby’s heartbeat is a little too high for my liking… I’ll get you prepped for a c-section. Little one doesn’t seem to be tolerating the contractions too well.” 

“Hurts…” Andre spoke quietly, holding Gabe’s hand. “TJ, you don’t have to be here… I’m not on your team anymore.” 

“I know, but you’re still my friend even if you moved out to Colorado. And obviously hit things off pretty well.” TJ smiled, looking between Gabriel and Andre. “It’s up to your boyfriend. If you want me to go, I’ll go and check on Lars. But keep me updated on the baby okay? Send me pictures.” 

“We know, TJ. But from the looks of things baby will be here pretty quickly. You probably can’t be in the OR, unless you stand back away from everything. I promise I’ll send you pictures though, I can’t deny you that.” Gabe smiled, watching TJ while gauging his reaction. “Are you okay with that? I know you helped pretty much everyone here.” 

“It’s fine, really. I know you can’t have a crowd in the OR when having a c-section.” TJ smiled a little, gently squeezing Andre’s hand. “You got this, Burkie. It will be all over soon, and you’ll have one pretty cute baby to show for it.” 

Andre chuckled softly, he was scared but he had Gabe with him and he had Anya operating. So he figured he was in pretty darn good hands. “I’m sorry TJ.”

“Ah, don’t be. It’s okay.” TJ smiled, turning to head out of the room. “I’m sure you’ll probably still be here when my baby comes into the world, they can be friends I’m sure.” 

Gabe smiled toward TJ as the other headed out, and before he went with Andre toward the operating room. He would definitely make sure to take as many pictures as humanly possible, mostly after the birth. 

3 pm

Lars frowned lightly, having only walked around the room before moving back to the bed with everything on it that he needs for the birth. He glanced at his phone and texted TJ again to see where he was, or if he was okay. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was scared and wanted at least his friend with him since Tom wasn’t available. “Come on TJ… at least let me know you’re okay…”

He had been feeling worse pains over the last couple hours, and the weird sensation of the baby starting to move down slowly with each contraction before just chilling out. He was feeling some pressure, but nothing really unbearable at the moment. He figured he could probably do this himself, especially since there was probably no other option. 

After a few minutes, or what felt like an eternity to him, he felt some of the worst pain he had felt in his life coupled with his water breaking on the pile of birthing pads under him. “Okay… this isn’t good… you’re coming soon aren’t you?” 

He reached for his phone again, this time deciding to just call TJ and tell him that he needed him as fast as he could get here. “You better answer or I’m telling Nicky no more donuts for goals…” 

“Lars?” TJ asked, not prepared to hear a few Danish curses on the other end. “What’s wrong?” 

“What’s wrong?! Where the hell have you been for the last few hours? I have been texting you and you just went missing!” He stopped for a moment, a soft moan escaping his lips as he shifted his weight slightly. “If you’re busy helping, let me know and I’ll deliver this baby myself. Just answer your texts next time… I thought you were dead or in labor yourself.” 

TJ frowned, glancing around to make sure that Auston wasn’t lurking around. But he was probably with Zach and the new baby if he or she had arrived by now. He then looked at the texts and his heart sank, knowing that Tom would probably murder him if he didn’t help Lars out. 

“No, sorry. Mario just got sent down to Anya’s, Burkie is in recovery with his baby girl. Gabe is literally a guard dog right now, or a giant Swedish bear because Auston popped up to try and drag Anya down the hall. I’m not that far from our room, I’ll come there now. As far as I know, no one else is in labor yet. But knowing Adrian, he’s hiding out. I’ll check on him later.” TJ sighed, soon turning the corner to head down to his and Lars’ shared room. 

Lars hung up the phone before he saw TJ open the door, a few tears of pain and an apologetic look crossed his face. He should have known his friend was off doing what he could, even if he probably shouldn’t have been. “You know Nicky will kill you if anything happens to that baby.”

“Baby’s fine.” TJ spoke softly, getting some water and warm towels. “Need help getting your boxers off?”

“I can manage. We might be friends, but this is a little personal especially since I’m trying to give birth here.” Lars grinned, wincing slightly as he managed to move the boxers off, a much worse pain crossing through his body. “Oh hell…” 

“Well personal or not, someone has to help the baby out.” TJ spoke softly, knowing the look on Lars’ face all too well. “And I think you just felt someone move to the exit.” 

“Oh yeah… took my boxers off, and then bam! Worst pressure ever…” Lars spoke softly, carefully propping himself up with his hands behind him. He breathed slowly, not really wanting to do this, but his body was practically screaming at him by now. 

“This should be easy; I think your body was doing most of the work for the last hour or two. Baby’s already starting to crown. So a few strong pushes should do it.” TJ smiled, getting supplies ready before moving back to the foot of the bed, ready to help if needed but he’d let Lars do most of it on his own. 

Lars nodded, taking a deep breath before he pushed as hard as he could, starting to feel more of the burning sensation he started to feel once the boxers came off. He held it as long as possible before relaxing, panting lightly.

“Okay, I need a little bit harder. Don’t think baby is big, just needs a little more help getting to the escape hatch.” TJ smiled, carefully moving Lars’ legs a little further apart. “You can do this, hold onto the headboard if you have to get some leverage.” 

Lars did as he was told, moving his hands back to hold onto the headboards before he pushed as hard as he possibly could, this time with a little more force behind it. A pained moan escaped his lips as he felt more of the head starting to come out and part of the shoulders behind it. 

“Just like that, that was great!” TJ smiled, getting the suction bulb and a towel. “At least one more just like that one, that should help things along.” 

“Hurts like hell…” Lars spoke quietly, resting for a few moments, trying to not pay attention to the latest contraction, despite the pain and his body saying you know you have to push right? After a couple minutes he finally relented and repeated what he did earlier, pushing as hard as he could, crying out as he felt the shoulders start to come out this time, his body shaking lightly. He took a quick break before giving one last hard push, this time feeling the baby come out all the way, watching TJ as he picked it up with a towel. 

“That was the fastest delivery I’ve seen, at least so far. Day’s not over yet.” TJ smiled, glad that things went so quickly and Lars seemed to be doing okay. “Looks like baby boy really wanted to meet you. He looks like Tom, but I think I see a little bit of you in him too.” 

“Oh he is so cute…” Lars smiled, watching TJ rub the baby dry. Soon hearing a loud, wavery cry through the room. He carefully held the newborn once TJ placed him in his arms, moving to kiss his forehead. “Hey… I hope you’ll meet your daddy soon. Uncle TJ has to go play midwife again, but I’m sure you’ll see him soon.”

“My spidey senses are tingling.” TJ laughed, making sure the afterbirth was taken care of. “I’ll let Anya know that you’re okay and she can send one of her nurses to check on you. I’ll see how Andre is doing though, and maybe sneak in to see how Zach is doing without a certain someone spotting me.” 

“Just be careful.” Lars smiled, watching TJ leave the room while he started bonding with his newborn. He tried to think of a good name for his baby boy, all while hoping that TJ wouldn’t work himself to death or early labor. 

Zach’s Suite

“Can we get him out of here… please?!” Zach asked, a furious and pained expression on his face as he watched Auston just hover over him like an overinflated fly or some other annoying insect. He was trying to get comfortable, and he knew he was closer to the pushing stage, but his teammate and friend was driving him up the wall.

“What did I do?” Auston asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m trying to help, and I brought the best doctor in the place to help you.” 

Zach just put his head back, a pained moan escaping his lips while he tried to get into a good position. He definitely felt a lot more pressure, wincing slightly as he felt Anya check him. He looked at her apologetically, even though he wasn’t doing anything wrong. 

“You dragged me away from a critical patient, Auston. Especially since he just had surgery only two hours ago. I got lucky that my team is the best at what they do, so they’re taking care of Andre and Mario. They may help you as well, since you seem so hellbent on having them or me deliver your baby. But let me help your friend, and keep your mouth shut.” Anya sighed, checking Zach before looking up at him. 

“Where the hell is Mitch anyway… if he was here Auston would be all over him…” Zach spoke quietly, soon moving his hands back behind his body. “Baby time?” 

“You got it, Zach. You’re fully dialated, so go ahead and push with the next contraction you feel. Auston, step outside.” Anya ordered, watching the other head outside reluctantly. But she knew that he was probably within earshot of the door. 

Zach smiled gratefully toward her before he pushed as hard as he could, putting his chin down to his chest while trying to hold it as long as he could. He relaxed for a few moments, glad to not hear Auston’s voice for once. 

“That was excellent. A few more like that and we’ll have a baby.” Anya smiled, carefully moving his legs a little further apart. “Just keep doing what you’re doing, I got you.” 

Zach nodded, taking a deep breath before he pushed harder, holding onto the bed sheet while trying not to cry out. He just didn’t want Auston to come barging in here, saying that he’s pushing all wrong and other stupid crap. 

“Okay, this part is going to hurt. Baby is starting to crown, so there will be a burning sensation. It’s okay to scream, it’s not easy doing this. Trust me.” Anya spoke gently, letting Zach do everything on his own unless she needed to intervene. 

Zach nodded, panting lightly before he took another deep breath and pushed harder. This time he all but screamed at the top of his lungs with the feeling of the head coming out coupled with the burning sensation, it was definitely not something he wanted to feel again for a long time. He just wanted this overwith already, and then groaned inwardly as he heard the door open. 

“For the love of god… get the fuck out!” Zach growled, pained tears falling down his face while his body was shaking from the pain, and he wasn’t even done yet. “Go find Riley or someone that gave birth without Anya… leave me alone…” 

“Whoa…” TJ spoke up, moving backwards toward the door with his arms and hands up in a defensive posture. “I was just going to check on you. Auston is in the living area, griping at Adrian because he figured out that he’s in labor. I’m giving it about oh… 2 minutes before Kopitar beats his ass.”

“Oh my god…” Zach frowned, tears in his eyes as he saw TJ standing there with pretty much a wounded puppy dog look on his face. He sighed softly, trying not to push again while he was talking to the other. “I… I thought it was Auston… I’m so sorry TJ. He’s been on me ever since I went into labor… and he was trying to be here while I was doing this too.”

TJ nodded, hesitantly moving over to Zach’s side before holding his hand. “It’s okay; I figured that’s who you meant to yell at. But you’re almost done, you got this. And you have Anya, she’ll get baby out pretty quickly. I am so tired…”

“You should get some rest too.” Anya smiled before turning to Zach. “Okay, one more big push. The head came out all the way with the last one, just need the shoulders and I can help the baby out the rest of the way. Then I’ll see if Adrian is okay, unless he wanted to do this solo.” 

“I told him I’d come back, I think he wants to stay where he is. Anze is getting towels now, probably a few other objects too…” TJ shook his head, squeezing Zach’s hand gently. “Maybe the next time you see your friend he’ll be Kings colors.”

Zach chuckled weakly before he pushed as hard as he could, biting back a pained moan as he tried to add a little more force to it. Soon he leaned back against the pillow, feeling the shoulders come out and Anya helping the baby out the rest of the way. “Oh… okay… big baby… I’d love to see Auston come back with their colors… especially the purple from the old days…” 

TJ smiled, looking down at the baby before carefully moving back. “Well she’s adorable, Zach. I better get down there before we need EMTs also. I swear this place is turning into more of a hell than a paradise. If you hear sirens, then you know what happened.” 

“Got that right… and make sure that Anze doesn’t beat you either. But I think he knows you’re on their side by now.” Zach smiled, watching TJ for a few moments. “You can scope out the damage if there is any.” 

“Of course. I’ll get in contact with you later I’m sure.” TJ replied, soon turning to head out the door and down to the living area. He just hoped that there wasn’t anyone dead or dying, then Bettman would probably come to the retreat faster than Pierre would latch onto Sid.

\-----

TJ walked into the living area, having to stifle a laugh as he heard a rather loud string of Swedish and Slovak curses. He couldn’t see what the cause of the cursing was yet, once he came around the corner of the couches though, he saw what could only be described as about half the linen closet, a little bit of blood presumably from Auston and a decent sized puddle on the floor by the couch. “I’m not going to even ask what happened here…” 

“Ask him.” Anze replied, pointing toward Auston who had blood running down his face from his nose and a quickly blackening eye. “Adrian was just relaxing, and then his water broke… which is the puddle. He told me he wanted to stay here, walk around to get things moving and have the baby wherever she said she was ready to come out.”

“Let me guess, someone opened his mouth when it should have been shut. Or did he threaten to drag Anya down here to bring Adrian down to the delivery suites?” TJ sighed, looking over at Auston who was practically curled up on the chair with a towel under his nose and tears forming in his eyes. 

“He had it coming. If not me, then I’m sure Tom would do it. Nicklas isn’t much of a fighter, at least from what I’ve seen,” Anze replied, shaking his head. “I know you can get into it, but you’re in no condition to get into a fight with anyone right now. But I’m sure he’ll leave everyone else alone now, or at least stay away from me and Landeskog.” 

TJ nodded, moving over to Adrian before offering a faint smile toward him. “There’s a really comfy place over there by the window, I’m not sure how comfortable this couch is. But you can do whatever you feel like; I don’t want to get decked by your fiancé.” 

“I won’t deck you, you’ve been a help to people. Not a pest.” Anze grinned, gently helping Adrian up before walking with him slowly over to the more comfy sofa by the window. “You can stay if you want, and maybe explain to Marner why his boyfriend looks like a raisin. And why he can’t contact anyone.”

TJ chuckled softly, glancing over to Auston who was still curled up on the chair. A small part of him felt sorry, but a bigger part knew that the younger got what he deserved. Of course with no phone there was no way to bug Zach or contact Mitch if he wanted to. He shook his head as he walked over with a few towels and warm water toward the sofa. 

“I try to help and he whales on me… and there was no reason to break the phone either.” Auston spoke quietly, looking up toward the hallway before he focused his attention back on his hands, and his very sore face. He could at least see through the left eye, the right one was starting to swell shut. 

“Don’t worry about him okay? Just focus on us Adrian.” TJ smiled, letting Anze get up with Adrian to hold him close, but also to prop him against his chest as a form of support. “Want to sit behind him?” 

“Oh, sure.” Anze smiled, carefully shifting his position so he was sitting behind Adrian, putting his legs on either side of his fiance’s body while making sure that the other was leaning against his chest. “There we go… how is that?”

Adrian smiled, breathing slowly while trying to get comfortable while leaning against Anze’s chest. “This works pretty darn good… I can stay like this I think.” 

“That’s good, glad you’re comfortable.” TJ smiled. “It might be awhile, but you’re ready for when baby wants to arrive.”

Adrian nodded, smiling over at TJ. “You look worn out… promise you’ll go to bed after this?”

“I plan on it… I am so tired it’s not funny.” TJ spoke gently, watching Auston as he slowly got up from the couch before heading down the hall. “But the plus side on when I have my baby? I won’t be bothered by Auston.”

Anze smiled, rubbing Adrian’s shoulders. “That would be good. Any plans on where you want yours to be born?”

“Pretty much wherever he or she wants to be born. I don’t really care; I just want them to be okay… you know?” TJ frowned, watching Anze and Adrian relax on the sofa. 

“Oh… I’m sorry.” Anze spoke carefully, looking over at TJ. He wasn’t sure why the other was upset, if it was because of him trying to comfort his fiancé or if it was because Nicklas wasn’t there. “So you’re pretty much going to do what Adrian is doing, nothing wrong with that. And I’m sure you know what to do.” 

“Not your fault, don’t worry about it. I’m here for the long haul.” TJ smiled, moving over a few chairs as sort of a privacy screen toward the end of the sofa where Adrian’s legs were, staying back and letting Adrian do his own thing. “And yeah I do. It will be different when it happens to me I know, I’ll probably freak out and look for someone to help if Nicky isn’t here by then.” 

5pm

“Is there anything you want me to do?” Anze asked, trying to keep Adrian comfortable despite the obvious pain he was in, and it seemed to get worse as the time went on. “Or do you need anything?” 

“Pain killers…” Adrian spoke quietly in a half whimper, his eyes closed tightly. “My god this hurts… and the pressure isn’t a good feeling either.” 

“Sorry. It’s a little too late to run and get anything, sounds like baby is ready to meet you two.” TJ spoke gently, looking up at the other apologetically. “I’m glad we’re not in the dining hall… doubt they can hear us anyway.”

“Don’t care if they do… Auston started this whole thing. Forcing us to be secretive instead of having our partners with us.” Adrian frowned, a soft whimper escaping his lips. 

“That I agree with… he’s not forcing us to do it this way, he’s just forcing us to suffer without anyone helping us.” TJ sighed, checking Adrian quickly before moving back. “I’ll only cut the cord, you do everything else okay? If you feel the pressure getting worse, or a really hard contraction, you know what to do.” 

“Who will help you TJ?” Anze asked, getting himself better situated to help Adrian. “You got this… I bet the baby will be out in three pushes. Especially if they’re already at the exit.”

Adrian had to laugh at that, shaking his head. “Definitely at the exit… If I leave bruises on your legs I’m sorry.”

“Anything to get leverage.” TJ smiled, looking over at Adrian before turning to Anze. He had to smile a little as the other started pushing as hard as he could. “I have no idea… unless I’m forced to go to Anya, or as I said I’ll try to do it myself if no one is here. Ideally I’d like Nicky to help, like you’re helping Adrian.” 

“Good… two more just like that.” Anze smiled, rubbing the small of Adrian’s back. “Maybe three if she’s being stubborn.”

TJ laughed, smiling sadly toward the two. “You’d be surprised. But I think I can do this myself… I’ll be scared of course. But if Nicky is being a pain in the you know what, I’d have no choice. Andre will still be here, and Lars will be.”

“You have support.” Anze smiled, looking over at TJ. “That’s good. So even if things don’t go the way you want, you have your friends.”

Adrian just smiled a little toward his fiancé and TJ before he pushed harder, trying not to cry out as he thought he felt the head starting to come out with some of the shoulders not far behind it. He panted lightly, a few tears falling down his cheeks.

“Good…” TJ spoke up as he watched Adrian. “One more good one will do it, I’m just standing back okay? Just raise your hips up a little bit with the next push and she’ll come right out onto the blankets.” 

“I’ll help get you up a little.” Anze spoke gently, carefully helping Adrian move himself up a little. “There we go… you can do it. I know it hurts like hell, but I’m proud of you.” 

Adrian nodded, taking a deep breath before he pushed as hard as he possibly could. Turning his head so he could scream into Anze’s shoulder, there was no way he was going to bring attention to himself right now. Soon he felt the baby move out and he fell back against Anze’s chest, tears falling down his face.

“Oh she is adorable.” TJ smiled, carefully moving to tie the cord and cut it before drying the newborn off. “Alright little girl, we’re all set. I’ll hand you over to your mommy and let the nice lady know you were born safely. Then I’m going to bed.”

“You deserve a break.” Adrian spoke quietly, carefully taking the newborn into his arms. “Thank you TJ… I’ll do my best to stay here for you if you want. You’ve done so much for all of us; I won’t be surprised if you get a whole Penguin contingent helping too.”

TJ laughed, rubbing the small of his back. “I’m just having one baby, as far as I know. Anya didn’t see anyone hiding out in there. But it would be nice to have friends for back up just in case Auston’s baby is stubborn and wants to be born after everyone else’s so he can torment us while we’re in labor.” 

“Well, I hope we see you tomorrow. Goodnight TJ, sleep well.” Anze smiled, watching the other head off down the hall and hopefully to his bedroom. He was happy the other helped them out, but he was also worried that he was over working himself. 

11 pm

Lars frowned lightly as he heard someone pounding on their door, seeing TJ fast asleep. Then he mentally cursed as his newborn started to whimper and snuffle, like he was about to start crying at the sudden awakening after an already hard day. “Come here… let’s try to let Uncle TJ sleep. See who is being mean and waking us up.” 

He stood up slowly from the bed, wincing slightly. Anya had to give him a few stitches after the birth, so he was definitely a little more sore and a bit tender in certain areas. He picked up his son before finally arriving at the door, opening it halfway. He had to roll his eyes as he saw Mitch standing there with what could be described as fear, or an apologetic look. He couldn’t really tell just from looking at him. 

“What do you want Marner? TJ didn’t beat your boyfriend up… he told me what happened. And he really shouldn’t have been sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.” Lars spoke quietly, trying not to wake TJ up. 

“It’s not that.” Mitch sighed. “Something is wrong with Auston. I don’t know if it’s the baby, or it’s because of what Anze did. He’s in a lot of pain and actually pretty helpless if you can believe it.” 

“He doesn’t strike me as someone who is helpless. Technically he isn’t though, because he has you. He has Bettman at his disposal; he is far from helpless Marner. And if he is in labor, he’ll be fine. A month early won’t hurt the baby or him. Just let TJ sleep, I doubt he wants to help him anyway considering how Auston has treated him.” Lars spoke, keeping his newborn close to him. 

“Anya is off for the night or I would have gone to her. She won’t be back until 8am, what if the baby is born before that? If that’s what’s going on.” Mitch asked. 

“For the love of…” TJ muttered into his pillow, sighing as he moved his hand over his belly. “Marner… shut the hell up. There is no way I’m helping him… I helped those that needed it, and who appreciated it. Auston would be ripping me a new one verbally if I so much as waddled in there. He is dead set on Anya helping him; if it just started he’ll be fine. In pain, but he’ll probably make it until she comes back on shift. She needs sleep too.” 

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t. He is in a lot of pain; I doubt he’ll even say anything.” Mitch frowned, walking over to the bed. “He said it started about 5:30, and its 11 now.” 

“Could be Braxton Hicks, however with the pain it could be the real thing. If it started almost 6 hours ago, he should be okay until she comes back. Unless there is something you aren’t telling us because you’re afraid I’ll say no, and make you do it yourself.” TJ sighed, eventually sitting up after yawning. “And you also won’t let me get back to bed because you will drag me down to see him anyway…” 

“You’re the only one here who knows what to do. Landeskog pretty much slammed the door in my face, the Kempe brothers flipped me off…” Mitch sighed.

“Well the Kempe brothers just gave birth, Gabe has a fiancé in the ICU right now. They really don’t want to see you or Auston. Not a lot of people left here do. Let me see if he’s actually in labor, then I’ll let you handle the rest. Tell him it’s not a crime if he delivers without medical intervention, as long as he’s healthy and the baby is okay, it will be fine.” TJ spoke, slowly standing up before heading to the door after Mitch. “If he’s not in labor, don’t know what to tell you. And no, I am not texting Anya to hurry back just for him.” 

Auston’s Room

“Oh hell no…” Auston frowned, looking over at TJ through his non swollen eye. “Just ship me off to Roanoke or to the medical center, I don’t want you helping me. And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to help me either.” 

“Not really. Now if you don’t want me here, I will be more than happy to leave and go back to bed. However your fiancé thinks otherwise and is pretty sure that I can figure out what is going on with you.” TJ sighed, glancing over at Auston who was resting on the side that wasn’t black and blue. “How bad did Kopitar get you anyway?” 

“Just my face… he didn’t get me lower. I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Also no, I am not having you look down below the equator. I’ll have Mitch do that, he’s pretty much the only one I trust right about now.” Auston huffed, carefully turning over onto his back. 

“That’s fine. But if he sees a baby, you will have to deliver here. There is no way I’m walking you down the hall only to have the baby born in the hallway. Which I know you don’t want.” TJ spoke, looking between the two. “And Mitch is pretty sure that you are in labor considering how much pain you are in.” 

“Can’t be in labor, I only hurt because of what Kopitar did. And I don’t think that would trigger early labor, you can go ahead and head back to bed. There is no baby coming.” Auston protested, almost glaring at his fiancé. 

“You’ve been in pain for almost 6 hours now. And you told me that your stomach hurt.” Mitch sighed, looking over at Auston then back at TJ. “Alright… if he says there is nothing happening, I’ll trust him.”

“Just check him.” TJ sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs carefully. “I am not heading back to bed until I’m sure, I don’t want you rushing back to my room saying that he’s feeling worse or rush back with a baby in your arms, yelling at me.” 

Mitch nodded, making sure he had Auston’s lower half covered with the blanket before he checked to see what was going on. Then he had a look of fear and worry written on his face as he moved Auston’s legs. “Um… it’s pretty wet down here, with a little bit of blood. His pants are soaked…” 

“Okay, you are definitely in labor. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Carry him to the delivery suite; I’m not forcing you to have the baby where you don’t want to Auston. Heaven forbid you do that to us…” TJ narrowed his eyes, carefully standing up before he turned to head out of the room and open up one of the suites. “Oh wait, you would. You want us all to use these suites… I should have just turned and let you deliver in your room. But I’m a better person than that; I’m going to respect your wishes. However, it will not be Anya down here. Steve is pretty good too, and he’s seen it all. Take it or leave it.” 

“Why are you respecting my wishes?” Auston asked as Mitch picked him up, bringing him to one of the birthing suites. 

“Not fully. You want Anya, I’m letting her sleep. She had a rough day, and she’s exhausted. Steve has literally seen everything from miscarriages, stillbirth, preemies and full term babies. You’ll be fine.” TJ sighed, letting Mitch help Auston to the bed before texting Steve to say they were in the suite and gave him the number. 

\-----

After a few moments, or what felt like an eternity, Steve felt like he was about 10 seconds from letting Auston do this on his own. He looked over at TJ, almost with a pleading look on his face. “Can you two help him? I’m not putting up with this…”

“He’s a little… set in his ways.” Mitch spoke, watching Steve as he moved up his hands in surrender. “No one else will help him.”

“If you tell him to stop flipping me off or trying to kick my shoulder while I check to see what is going on, I’d appreciate it. He is so… Mario wasn’t this bad.” Steve was perturbed, and almost tempted to tie Auston’s feet down to the stirrups that came on the end of the bed. 

“Auston… for the love of god, stop acting like an entitled brat. If you keep acting this way, you will be alone when you deliver. Because no one in their right mind will want to help you. I told you Anya is sleeping; Steve is one of the best people she has. But it sounds like you’re leaving the offer from the way you’re acting. And judging from the monitor, baby isn’t taking this well.” TJ sighed softly, glancing over at Auston.

“And I told you that I wanted Anya, no one else.” Auston spoke, trying to move his feet out of the stirrups. Eventually succeeding as he turned over onto his side, pulling his legs up as far as they could with his belly in the way. 

“Fine, we obviously can’t force you. Steve and I are not leaving; we’re just stepping back and let you do your own thing. Even if you don’t want to, your body will do it for you. And if the baby is still not tolerating everything, you’ll have to have a c-section. So just think about the consequences before things get worse. Sooner baby is born, the better.” TJ replied, walking slowly over to the corner of the room with Steve. 

All Mitch could do was just watch the scene unfold, wondering why Auston was being so stubborn. If he was in trouble, or the baby was in trouble, he wanted him to take this seriously. To just accept help from people that knew what they were doing. Plus he was also worried by what TJ said with the baby not taking the stress of labor that well. 

“Are you on their side?” Auston asked, watching Mitch before putting his head on the pillow. He didn’t want to admit that the pain was starting to get worse, even worse than the time he dislocated his shoulder. 

“What? I’m on no one’s side. I just want our baby to be born safe and healthy, and I’m also sure that you do not to stay longer than you have to here.” Mitch replied, wondering what was going through Auston’s head. 

TJ bit his lip lightly, very much tempted to say that no one else wanted Auston here longer than it took to be cleared for travel back with Mitch. He leaned back in the chair, resting his hands over his belly. Probably happier than he should have been to feel the baby moving, but because of his past loss, he felt he had the right to be happy over every kick and stretch. 

“How are you holding up?” Steve asked, looking over at TJ while Mitch was trying to deal with Auston. “Anya said it had been a little rough on you at the beginning, of course I don’t blame you at all.”

“Oh it was definitely rough.” TJ nodded, closing his eyes halfway. “For the first three months she had be go every two weeks, just to make sure that everything was okay. Then it was every month, until I got sent here. I saw her the other day and a few times after that.”

“Are you still planning on delivering by yourself? Or will you head down to the center?” Steve smiled, knowing what the plans were for most of the players, but they could easily change their minds. 

“I wanted to do it my way you know? But I don’t want to hurt Anya’s feelings, especially since she has been my OB since before the miscarriage. I also don’t want to sound selfish like a certain someone over there who wants everything handed to him on a silver platter.” TJ sighed, shaking his head. 

“He wants Anya for her reputation; you are a patient of hers and probably a friend by now. But you also have a secondary plan, and from the sound of it, you aren’t terribly upset if you can’t have Anya help you.” Steve added, occasionally watching Auston as he shifted his weight. “As for him…”

“He can’t fight it…” TJ sighed, watching Auston as well as he tried to get comfortable while probably avoiding what he was feeling right about now. “His body will probably do most of the work for him, but he still has to get the baby out himself.” 

“He is not going to be happy. If we’re needed, then we’ll step in. Otherwise I’m just letting things happen on their own. And if the baby is in trouble, I’ll take him down to the center. Definitely not doing major surgery here.” Steve spoke up, just watching the two for a few moments. 

6 am

“Is there anything you can do at all?” Mitch asked, seeing Auston still curled up in a ball but with tears falling down his face. 

“Tell him to turn onto his back, unless he’d rather have the baby on his side, which is fine. But he can’t do it like a hedgehog.” Steve sighed, moving over to the bed. “So what will it be? I need you to straighten out, the baby can’t come out like that.” 

“Can’t be ready yet…” Auston spoke quietly, pain evident in his voice. He knew his body was telling him different, that the baby was definitely ready to enter the world. 

Steve looked over at Mitch before having him help straighten Auston’s legs out and gently turn the other over onto his back. “Oh… yeah, you are ready. Fully dialated, and pretty sure I see the head.” 

“Where is Oshie? Doesn’t he usually help everyone?” Auston rolled his eyes, whimpering softly as Steve moved his legs apart and put his feet back in the stirrups. 

“Getting something to eat, TJ will be fine. I’m more worried about you; scoot down a little more okay? This won’t take long. A few good pushes will do it.” Steve spoke firmly. “Your body did most of the work, but you need to help things along.” 

“Alright…” Auston sighed, scooting a little closer to the edge of the bed. 

“Better. Now I’ll have Mitch sit behind you for support, like what TJ had Anze do with Adrian. With the next contraction you feel, I want you to push as hard as you can. It will hurt, childbirth isn’t totally painless. It’s okay to scream.” Steve spoke, watching Mitch move in behind Auston. 

Auston nodded, taking a deep breath before pushing as hard as he could. He thought he could feel the head move a little more, but he also figured that baby wanted to take their sweet time getting to the outside. He felt Mitch move his arms around his upper half, and he just leaned against his fiancé. 

“This isn’t a cuddle session, Marner. He can lean against you if he needs to take a break, but I want him to be able to move if he has to push again okay?” Steve asked, shaking his head as he checked Auston. “I want you to go a little harder, that did a little bit but not enough to get baby out.” 

Auston just frowned, already frustrated and he had just started. “I’ll try. It hurts like hell…”

“I know, and it’s going to. But you’ll have something out of all the pain.” Steve smiled, and then saw a familiar figure move back into the room. “I know this isn’t what you wanted, and you’re probably feeling heartbroken or betrayed because things didn’t pan out. Babies don’t care who brings them into the world, heck they probably don’t want to leave their warm waterbed. I’ve helped a lot of parents that are like you, who didn’t want to deliver a certain way but it ends up happening.” 

TJ smiled a little, moving to sit down on a chair near the headboard. He wasn’t going to help this time; he was worn out and just about done with everything. He just wanted to focus on getting ready himself, and hope that people would be willing to help him next month. “I’m staying out of this. I’m too damn tired… and I don’t want to hear you complaining about how Anya isn’t here, that you wanted her to deliver the baby. Don’t you even think about guilt tripping her when she comes in either.” 

Auston glared at TJ, but soon directed his attention back to what was going on. He repeated the process a couple of times, putting his head back against Mitch’s chest as he finally felt the head come out with part of the shoulders, definitely a sensation he didn’t like all that much. 

“Excellent. Just one more really strong push and I can help baby out the rest of the way, I can’t quite get the shoulders.” Steve spoke carefully, watching Auston. He knew he would definitely tell Anya what happened so she could check him, but he would also stay to defend her absence. 

“Just one more and maybe we can see how long you have to stay here.” Mitch spoke softly, letting Auston do what he had to. “I know you don’t want to stay that long.”

“And we have a baby.” Steve smiled, gently holding the shoulders before guiding the baby out. “Looks like a baby girl, and she seems pretty healthy too. Good strong lungs. I’ll get her cleaned up, and then take care of the afterbirth. I’ll let you two bond here before I have someone help you back to your room.” 

TJ shook his head, standing up slowly before turning to leave the room. He put one hand on his back before he turned down the hall. He wasn’t about to tell them where he was going, but he knew he had a few things to do. 

\----

“You’re here early.” TJ spoke, smiling a little toward Anya as she came down the hall and toward the medical center. “It’s been hell the last few hours to say the least. And I’m trying to get hold of Nicky, but he’s either sleeping or doing who knows what.” 

“If I was him, I’d be sleeping after that game. Not sure how much of it you saw, but it was pretty tense. Are your guys and Boston always that fighty?” Anya smiled, opening the door for TJ. “And are you okay? Should I check on things before everyone comes to drag me all over the place? Also, where the heck did Steve go?” 

“Didn’t see much of it, after you left I tried to get some sleep. Then Marner came to the room and had me go down to see what was wrong with Auston.” TJ sighed, rubbing his temples before turning toward Anya. “Apparently getting decked by Anze caused him to go into labor… and he was just as stubborn as he has been for the time we’ve been here. As for us and Boston, not as bad as us and Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. But playoffs are a different animal, and with the chance to go to the finals and get the Stanley Cup again then tensions are a lot higher.” 

“I could tell. I didn’t see the end of the game, but I’m assuming it went well for you guys if Nicklas or Tom didn’t text.” Anya spoke gently. “As for Auston, I can only imagine it didn’t go too well labor and birth wise. I hope the baby is okay.”

“Yeah, baby’s fine. She’s a good size, so he may have been a couple weeks off on his due date or something. He was just so… I am going to give kudos to Steve for holding it together; I am not strong enough to do what he did. I would have blackened Auston’s other eye.” TJ replied.

“You aren’t the violent type.” Anya frowned, leading TJ back to one of the exam rooms. “I know he got on your nerves, and said a lot of nasty things to you and your friends. But I can’t see you doing what Anze did. And you helped a lot of people here.” 

“No, you’re right. He was just not having it; he wanted you to deliver his baby as he has since day one. So we just let him deliver in one of the maternity rooms, his body did most of the work. He was probably in denial it was even happening until the baby was right there… like ‘Hey, I need help to get out.’ He wasn’t happy, I can tell you that much.” TJ spoke, walking into one of the rooms before carefully getting up on one of the tables and leaning back. 

“I can only imagine. Don’t worry; I’ll give Steve a little extra in his next paycheck for dealing with a couple of complicated patients. Mario wasn’t that easy either, but at least he didn’t care who helped with the birth.” Anya spoke gently, listening to TJ before moving his shirt up. “He was just upset that we couldn’t give him anything to take the edge off the pain.”

TJ just smiled, putting his head back while he felt Anya squirt some gel on his belly before moving the transceiver around. “That isn’t so bad, better than Auston flipping us off or trying to kick Steve… Mitch was just standing there, saying that he was set in his ways.” 

Anya shook her head, carefully moving the transceiver. “Baby looks good, not much room to move around now but I can see him or her moving their fingers and hands. And still head down, so that’s really good news. I’ll just check other parts to make sure that baby will stay put for a little while longer.” 

TJ nodded; letting her do what she had to before he moved his feet into the stirrups at the end of the bed. “Auston hated the stirrups too… that’s when he almost kicked Steve in the face. I say the poor guy should get the next month off, you have a lot of competent staff that can fill in for him.” 

“Well thank you for saying that, are you changing your mind on your birth plan? Or do you still want to let nature take its course and when baby is born, and then they’re born no matter where you are?” Anya asked, checking him carefully. “Looks like they’ll be hanging out for awhile, no dilation and slightly effaced. So he or she is in it for the next month at least.”

“I’m not sure. I know I have a month to figure it out, but I don’t want to take you away from people that need you. The Boston guys will be close to delivering by the time myself and the others who are due around the same time as me have our babies.” TJ spoke softly.

“I know, but you’re my patient. I’ll try not to show favoritism, even though so far you and a handful of others are the friendlier ones. Auston just wanted me for my reputation; I can tell he didn’t want me because I know how to deliver babies. But if you do need me, for any reason, don’t be afraid to call or text.” Anya smiled, letting TJ take his feet out of the stirrups before helping him sit up. “Or if you need me to call your friends, I’ll do that too. Especially if a certain Swede doesn’t show up.”

“If we win the Cup again, he better show up… Alex gets the Cup first anyway since he’s the captain. We’ll work it out to get the baby in the Cup somehow. I know Tom will show up, even if it’s only to bring Lars home and see how I’m doing.” TJ smiled a little before getting off the table. 

“Either way, just take it easy okay? I’m just a call away.” Anya spoke, walking with him to the door. “And no more playing super Osh, you deserve the rest. I can handle it if anyone else has issues or goes into labor early.” 

TJ nodded, waving to her as he headed out of her office. Now he just had to prepare himself for what was coming, and what was going to happen. This time he’d be the one who would probably need assistance, but only time would tell. He was ready, but also scared to death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also if anyone understands the donuts for goals statement that Lars made, then you've been paying attention to TJ's Twitter feed. And if not, I got that from his youngest daughter Leni saying that her papa has to get goals to get a donut. That's been a thing ever since.


	9. We waited so long to meet you (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I really want to say this time is that I'm still looking for ideas with the remainder of the fic, and what other players you want seen since I'll be getting to the Boston boys after the next chapter.
> 
> No surprises in this chapter, but I'm planning at least one in part 2.

1 month later

“Did you hear the news?” David asked, watching the few remaining players wander into the dining area. He turned his attention back to Jake, the two half expecting their partners to walk into the dining hall as well at any moment. He also had a feeling that things were going to get chaotic once again, especially with six due any day.

“There’s no news on the Cup yet, game 7 is tomorrow. But it’s not us playing unfortunately.” Jake shook his head, seeing a few more players come into the room. “And I think I know at least two people that will not be happy if their partners don’t show up for the births of their first children.” 

“Who are you thinking of?” David blinked, walking over to the pancake section to put a few on his plate. “I was just asking if you heard the news of Matthews leaving with Marner and the other Leafs. Unfortunately Montreal is still here.” 

“Oh yeah, I did hear about that. I swear I heard cheering from up and down the hall. So we’re free to do what we choose, not get dragged into the medical center kicking and screaming.” Jake chuckled softly, wondering where Kane and Saad were. “Have we seen the Hawks boys?” 

“I saw Kaner last night, Saad was lying low but he was around. They probably want to keep a low profile, just in case Matthews has a spy working for him. Or they’re sleeping in, which I don’t blame them for one bit.” David replied, getting a glass of orange juice before heading to their table. 

“I also heard rumors about at least two Penguins coming back.” Jake spoke up, picking up his bacon and eggs along with some apple juice and two chocolate muffins. “Don’t know if there is any truth to that, but I also don’t know why they would come back. They all had their babies; Oshie is the last Metro player standing.” 

“Maybe they worked out some sort of alliance.” David shrugged, soon seeing a few more familiar faces come into the dining area. “Speaking of the devil. How are you holding up, TJ?”

“As well as you’d think, Krejci.” TJ sighed, not really feeling that hungry but decided to pick up a couple pieces of bacon and a muffin. “Lars jumped ship, everyone else jumped ship when they were healed enough to go home. It really sucks being the last of your division, but you still have some outside division rivals hanging around…” 

“Why did he leave? Wilson is still in the finals with Backstrom right? And he can’t go out and play so soon after having a baby.” Jake asked, watching TJ sit down at the table across from them while Patrick and Brandon joined him. “Who is left that is a rival with you?”

“Montreal is getting there… so I think we have something in common with them. I know you guys can’t stand them. And you guys are up there too, considering how we’ve done against each other in the regular season. I think McDavid is still here, Riley’s gone. There really aren’t too many of us left.” TJ replied, looking over at Jake and David. “And yeah, Nicklas is with Tom. Unfortunately if we do win, we won’t get the Cup baby opportunity for a few weeks. Unless he begs Bettman to bring the Cup here just for the photo op since I’m obviously not there… then he’d let him give it to Alex who would get two days with it like he did last time. As for why Lars left, he probably wants to see the game in person… I think it’s at home, so he’s not travelling too far. So he’ll get first crack at baby in the Stanley Cup.” 

“That is if your baby is born in time for him to come here with the Cup, game 7 is tomorrow.” Patrick spoke gently, rubbing the side of his belly. “But you seem fine, so I’m sure that baby is just chilling out and waiting to arrive until after the game or before so you can watch it with him or her.” 

“My luck I’d be delivering during the game.” TJ laughed, sighing softly. “Baby doesn’t seem to be in a rush, I haven’t even felt a single contraction. How are you two holding up?” 

“From my guess, I think Connor will go first. He didn’t look that great last night, and we haven’t seen him. I’m just half expecting a call from someone that’s near his room if he can’t text or call me himself.” Patrick smiled, watching TJ and the others in their small group. 

“Who knows what is going on, or where he’ll deliver. Are you two still in the let baby come where they want to come and not wait around mindset?” TJ asked softly, glancing toward the door every now and then.

“Heck yeah, we came up with that months ago. And if it’s away from here, so be it. The only downside to that is that we can’t drive afterwards.” Brandon replied, nibbling on a piece of bacon. “But we’ll worry about that if it happens, no sense in worrying now.” 

“Exactly.” Patrick smiled, putting an arm around Brandon. “Did you want to check on McDavid? One last midwife run before your baby decides to say they’re ready?” 

TJ chuckled lightly, trying to figure out how Patrick and Brandon were doing. Brandon seemed a little uncomfortable, but Patrick still seemed okay. He figured the two would be really good at hiding what was going on for various reasons.

“What the heck… for old time’s sake. I don’t have anyone to check on me, unless two familiar faces do show up. Three if I’m lucky.” TJ smiled, slowly standing up before putting his hand to his back. “I may miss this eventually, but right now I’m ready for this to be over.” 

Brandon smiled, watching TJ head out before he saw Max and Jeff wander in as well. He knew there were six left to deliver since Auston had his baby a month early, much to the joy of the others present. But he could also tell that Max didn’t look comfortable at all, probably worse than he felt. He also didn’t know what those two were planning.

“I’d ask how you two are doing, but your face says it all Domi. Trying to tough it out?” Patrick asked carefully, knowing the look on the other’s face all too well. “What we’re planning isn’t for everyone, I’m sure at least two of us are going to pick the suites or going to Anya.” 

“I’m planning on the suite.” Max replied, looking up at the slightly taller Blackhawks player. “But I’m also trying to go as long as I can without having to move there and just lay around or walk around the room while waiting for things to start happening you know?” 

“Oh we know. We won’t pressure you guys into anything, if you want the suite and assistance that’s totally okay. I know there are people who are still on Auston’s side, even though he’s been gone a couple days.” Patrick nodded, offering a half smile toward the other. “Watch it be a battle of Canadian teams, who gives birth first. McDavid for Edmonton, or you two for Montreal?” 

“McJesus seemed okay when I saw him. He said it didn’t hurt that much, but how I’m feeling? It got worse since yesterday morning, that much I know. So I could literally be any time now. The pain is just… you’ll know it.” Max sighed, rubbing his hip. “It’s been 26 hours now…” 

“I’ve seen it too, we both have.” Brandon nodded. “Why don’t you just relax over there in the corner? It’s a comfy bench, and big enough for you to lay on if you need to. And that long? You are definitely in labor… so relaxing would be really good. See if we can get you to the room soon.”

Max chuckled lightly, walking slowly over to the corner. He breathed out slowly, stopping in his tracks as he put one hand onto the table. He was so close to the corner, he just had to try and walk there. The sensation he felt though was not a good one, and caused him to walk slower before he eventually went to the corner and put his shoulders against the wall before moving the rest of himself onto the cushioned bench.

“You okay?” Jake asked, looking over at Max. “If you’re planning on the suite instead of out here, we should probably get you over there. Toews can carry you; he’s probably lurking around the corner watching Kane.”

Patrick laughed, moving his hand over his belly. “Oh you know he is. But Jake is right; he can carry you if you can’t walk. I can tell something is happening, and it’s probably something that you don’t want happening out here.” 

“Not where others eat, no.” Max shook his head. “So maybe your boyfriend can help out? I either felt my water break, or the baby drop… or both. It didn’t feel good whatever happened.”

“If you can walk, baby moved down and can’t tell about the other part since you’re wearing dark sweatpants. But probably broke your water too.” Jake smiled a little, watching Jonathan as he showed up from apparently the TV area. “Good timing.” 

“I’m not TJ, so I can’t help with the delivery part. But I’ll carry Max to the room so whoever is going to be at the birth can be with him while everyone else waits anxiously.” Jonathan grinned, carefully picking Max up before carrying him bridal style to one of the birthing rooms. 

“Might as well go along too.” Jeff smiled, following Jonathan. “Never know my baby might get the same idea and go for freedom.” 

Connor’s Room

“TJ? I thought you were taking it easy. It’s going to be awhile before anything happens on my end; I don’t want you worn out.” Connor spoke gently, looking over at the older as he came into the room. “I didn’t think you were going to check on us anymore with how close you are.”

“I haven’t felt anything to make me think I’d be in labor, I’m okay.” TJ smiled, carefully sitting down on the corner of the bed. “But you could be after Max; he looked like he was really close when I saw him a little bit ago. Did you want to walk around, or stay here?” 

“I might stay here. I have all of the stuff needed on top of the bed sheets, and I don’t want to risk possibly delivering in the hallway. I know you guys are saying wherever baby wants to come, they’ll be born. I just don’t think a hallway is a good place.” Connor frowned.

“Oh I know, that’s not my ideal place either. There are lots of places around here, so I’m sure we’ll find somewhere.” TJ replied. “I’ll stay here with you; I know how it is to be alone right now. Like I want Nicky here, but he’s off trying to get our second Cup.” 

“So… what is this about two Penguins players coming back? It’s all I’m hearing right now, that and there’s a poll on who will deliver first out of us. From what you’re telling me, it will be Domi first then the rest of us will follow him.” Connor chuckled lightly, shifting his weight on the bed. 

“I’m not sure which two, but probably Sid and Geno. They promised they’d come back to help if I was still alone, and well…” TJ sighed. “Last Metro player standing, Lars flew the coop and about the only friends I have left are Andre because he can’t leave just yet. And ironically my former rivals are sort of friends, but I probably won’t spend cookouts or anything with them.”

“Oh come on… you three were getting along pretty well, and came up with the doctor free birth plans. Maybe you won’t be buddy buddy, but I’m sure you’ll still keep in touch. Unless you’re afraid that they’d get flack for talking to a former St. Louis player.” Connor laughed, sighing softly to himself. 

“Nah… not afraid of that. I’m just thinking it would be the same with Sid and Geno too; I don’t want others to know that I’m actually friends with Penguins players. But it probably doesn’t matter off the ice; we can do what we want. And we just turn on a different switch when we play each other again.” TJ smiled. 

“Well… if you want to get something to eat, or just hang out and watch TV, safe bet we still have a few hours. It hurts, so that’s why I didn’t come down for breakfast. But I think I’ll probably make it until lunch or dinner. Your choice. If anything gets worse I’ll text you.” Connor smiled. 

“Like I’m leaving, you’re probably the last I’ll see to help. Then I’ll end up being the one who is the helpee instead of helper.” TJ replied, moving over to a chair before turning on the TV. “And of course all they’re talking about is Game 7. Who will win?” 

“Well Ovi is still with you guys, so I won’t count him out for some last second heroics. Backstrom too. How did you two end up together anyway? Backstrom and Ovi are like two peas in a pod, didn’t think anything or anyone could get between them.” Connor asked. 

“I know right?” TJ laughed. “Apparently when I came to the team I was good enough to be on the first line with them, and things went from there. Nick had seen me play against them the two times in the regular season we met with the Capitals each season, I know he told me he was glad that I was on their side. And now I’ve scored against all the teams in the league, just not Seattle because they don’t even have a name yet.”

Connor had to laugh at that, rubbing his belly. “Oh that’s hilarious… I haven’t had that achievement, but sort of hard to score against a team that you are playing on. And very true, I think the last I heard that the name would be announced before the Cup finals. Well… game 7 of the finals is tomorrow. So…” 

“I’m not going to hold my breath. I’m sure we’ll get a name soon. I personally can’t wait since it would be sort of a home town team; most of my family is in the area. I just hope it’s nothing too silly.” TJ spoke, looking up at the TV. 

“Never know. Or it will probably be the Seattle Unknown since we don’t know anything about them yet.” Connor grinned, breathing out slowly as he leaned against the pillow. “Have a question mark on the jersey, helmet and shoulder patch…” 

TJ nodded, offering a smile toward Connor before changing the channel. He was sort of wondering how the others were doing as well, but this time he knew he could only be with Connor. Maybe Patrick and Brandon since he promised, but he didn’t really know anyone else that well, and he had a mini rivalry going with Montreal. 

Max’s Suite

“What time is it…?” Max asked quietly, leaning forward against the wall, by now the pain had gotten worse than in the dining area, and the weird sensation was still going on. But that too seemed worse, like actually standing was doing something more than him just lying there on the bed. 

“We left at 8; it’s now about 10:30. And judging from how you’re breathing and acting restless, I think it’s pretty close to baby time. Now I’m not TJ, but I’ve seen it from the others too.” Patrick spoke carefully. “I know they said you’ll start feeling a lot of pressure. Plus you’ve been in labor for almost 29 hours now; baby was bound to arrive sooner or later.”

Max nodded, a faint whimper escaping his lips. He did not like this feeling at all, but was trying to fight it, despite the fact his body was basically yelling at him in its own way to get the baby out and then he’d feel better. He put his forehead against his arm, closing his eyes tightly. “Hurts like hell…” 

“Just do what your body tells you. Even if you don’t want to, it may go fast since you’re standing. One of us will catch; you just do the pushing part. And no, we won’t drop the baby.” Brandon smiled, watching Patrick go over to rub Max’s back. “Trust us, it’s okay to scream. Seems like most of the Canadian teams have had big babies.”

“Alright… promise not to drop the baby?” Max asked softly. 

“Oh you know we wouldn’t. Boston… well…” Jonathan spoke up, moving over to get the towels while Patrick got the suction bulb and scissors. “Now go ahead, we got everything ready. It’s up to you now.” 

Max looked over at them, soon taking a deep breath before he pushed as hard as he could, keeping his head against his arms. It definitely felt a lot worse than he had anticipated, but he was also picturing a hospital birth with all kinds of good painkillers. 

“That was good, two more just like that.” Jonathan smiled. At least he was getting experience with delivery now so he didn’t have to find out the hard way when it was Patrick’s turn. And he didn’t even know if he’d be so calm in that instance. 

“Alright…” Max spoke quietly, pushing harder, causing him to cry out in pain as he felt the head come out all the way. “Baby’s not wasting time…”

“Doesn’t look like it. Just one more okay?” Jonathan asked, holding a towel in his hands as he got ready to help the baby out. “Doesn’t have to be a really hard push, I can help it out if I hold the shoulders.” 

Max breathed slowly, glancing over at the others before giving one last hard push, soon feeling a little better, but sore as the baby came out all the way. At least he didn’t have that heavy painful sensation anymore. He slowly went down to his knees, tears falling down his face. 

“You okay?” Brandon asked, gently rubbing his shoulder. “Baby is fine, Jonathan is cleaning her up. Looks a lot like you, must be the hair.” 

Max laughed lightly, looking up at Brandon. “Yeah, I’m alright… sore, but as long as baby is okay that’s all that matters. I bet she does look like me… she had my nose in the last sonogram.” 

“She is pretty darn cute.” Jonathan smiled, getting her cleaned up and wrapped in one of the towels. “I didn’t see any baby blankets. We’ll help you to the bed so you can rest until someone comes in to check on you.” 

“No one knows I’m here, and you didn’t hit the button did you?” Max asked softly, trying to get his composure before slowly standing back up, putting his hand on the wall. His face went slightly red as he felt the afterbirth come out, then heard it fall on the carpet. 

“Brandon did once she was born. And we’ll get someone to clean that up too, Anya may need it.” Patrick smiled, helping Max walk over to the bed before letting him lie down. “Do you need anything before we head out? Or do you want us to stay?”

“I think I’m good, you should take care of Kane and Saad. Where is his partner anyway?” Max asked, carefully getting comfortable on the bed before Jonathan put his newborn in his arms. 

“He should be coming soon; he had a few things to pick up. I’ll let TJ know what happened, and see if Anya comes in.” Jonathan smiled, then heard the door open. “Or she’s here. I’ll let her take over, we’ll see you later.”

Anya just smiled, putting the afterbirth in a plastic bag she had filled with saline before going over to check everything out. “You three did a good job, thank you for helping. Patrick, Brandon? Go rest okay? I’m keeping an eye on you two and a few others.” 

Patrick smiled, waving toward Anya before heading out with Brandon and Jonathan. “Oh we know, but I think your friend is holding out until the bitter end. Or at least until the game tomorrow.” 

Anya laughed, nodding in return. “We’ll see. Just take it easy, I don’t want to be running all over the place.” 

1pm

TJ blinked, turning his head as he heard someone knocking on Connor’s door. He looked over at the other who was sleeping for now, so he slowly stood up to see what was going on. He opened the door a crack before seeing Patrick with a sort of freaked out look on his face. “What’s going on? I haven’t seen you since breakfast.” 

“I know. Um… how is McDavid doing? And do you think that you could come to our room?” Patrick asked. “If you can’t that’s okay, Jonathan can help. I’ve just never seen Brandon like this.” 

“So I guess baby decided to be born in your room?” TJ asked softly, but with a smile on his face. “Knowing you, you’re planning somewhere else. If Jonathan lets you.”

“We weren’t planning on our room, that’s for sure. We thought it would be born in the lunch hall or somewhere like that. He’s just in so much pain, and I know he doesn’t want the suites.” Patrick replied. 

“Maybe you can help him to where he wants to deliver, if he’s able to walk that is. Connor is okay, sleeping for now. He probably has a few hours left, I’ll have Andre come in to stay with him and he’ll let me know if he gets worse.” TJ smiled, texting Andre before he headed out of the room, making sure to leave a note for Connor if he woke up while he was out.

“Yeah, sure.” Patrick nodded, walking back down to his and Brandon’s room while making sure TJ was close by. “And how are you holding up?”

“Still nothing. I should be glad you know?” TJ chuckled softly, walking slowly into the room with Patrick. “I didn’t think you’d be next, Brandon. Connor’s still hanging in there, so I’ll see what’s going on while Andre is in the room.”

Brandon smiled lightly as he walked around the room, pacing by the window before stopping on occasion. “I was uncomfortable all morning, and then it just picked up over the last half hour. Go figure that I go before Patrick.” 

“Was there anywhere special you wanted to be? Or is here okay?” TJ asked his former rival, soon seeing Jonathan come into the room with a pile of towels and a suction bulb. “Of course looks like Toews has it all planned out. Or is that for Patrick?” 

“What are you planning to do, TJ? This is for Brandon; Patrick hasn’t shown any labor signs yet.” Jonathan replied, wondering what the other was going to do. 

“Here’s okay… we did say wherever baby said they wanted to come out, that would be where they would be born. Apparently they want the comfort of the room, that’s fine.” Brandon spoke softly, breathing slowly as he stopped to lean against the corner of the bathroom door. 

“That’s totally fine. If you three have this figured out I’ll go back to Connor, unless you wanted me to help. I just can’t help too many more, who knows if I’d go into labor while helping someone. That would be awkward.” TJ spoke gently, but offered a smile toward the others. 

“Corey isn’t here, so you could be moral support? Unless you want to help, that’s okay too. Then we’ll let you go back to Connor and take it easy.” Brandon replied, straightening himself up before going back to pacing around the room. 

“I like that.” TJ smiled, watching Brandon carefully. “Moral support sounds good, sort of like what I did for Geno since he wanted hands off. The only exception was to help the baby out of the tub, but he didn’t want anyone near him while he was delivering.” 

“That sounds like a good way to go… sort of like what Max did. But I sure as hell don’t feel like giving birth standing up, I might go to the couch or the chair.” Brandon spoke softly, a soft moan escaping his lips as he stopped one more time to put his hands against the table. 

“We’ll let you do whatever you feel like. You don’t want anyone near you, that is okay. No wrong way in this.” TJ smiled, helping Jonathan gather a few items but let Brandon do what he wanted. “Sometimes we don’t need assists.” 

Brandon laughed, but smiled gently toward TJ. “That’s true… some of the best goals are the unassisted kind. Hurts like hell though… I just have to wait and see what baby wants to do. I don’t think they’re ready to go to the outside yet… but they’re working on it.”

“Yeah, Anya said that we’d feel the baby transitioning before they’re ready to come out. I’m actually sort of scared for that part…” TJ frowned lightly. “The first part of labor will scare the hell out of me for sure…” 

“Right…” Patrick spoke softly. “I’m sure the miscarriage was probably similar to early labor pains, not that we’d know about that yet. But I heard that it’s pretty painful… and I’m sorry that you had to go through that.” 

“With this though, I know that it will get worse before it gets better. And the pain will bring something good, instead of resulting in something bad. It’s just hard to shake that memory.” TJ replied, watching the two before moving to sit down on a chair at the table. 

“You didn’t seem scared when you were helping everyone.” Brandon smiled, rubbing his hip lightly. “And you know we’ll all be here when you deliver. We may not all be there, but we’ll be damned if we don’t check on you with a phone call or a text.” 

“With Andre I was petrified, he was in so much pain… and apparently Swedes are good at making big babies. So…” TJ sighed, resting his hand over his belly. “If I’m lucky baby will be about 8 pounds, but Anya said maybe close to 9.”

“If anyone can do it, you can. Heck, my baby will probably be good sized too. And she’s part Canadian.” Patrick smiled, watching Brandon carefully. “Care to hang out here, TJ?”

“You don’t have to stay, not if you promised to be with Connor too. But if you do stay here, promise me that McDavid is the last person. Like you can still talk to us of course, but if Kaner goes into labor after McDavid I don’t want you getting all worked up or worn out before your baby is ready.” Brandon spoke softly, a soft whimper escaping his lips as he moved to put his hands against the table. 

“Yes mom.” TJ smiled, chuckling lightly. “But from the way you’re acting, I think your baby is probably working on getting close to the exit. You’re pretty restless, and trying to find good positions from what I can tell.” 

“Damn you’re good…” Brandon chuckled lightly, closing his eyes halfway. “It sort of feels good here... but I might move to the couch or something. I know I can’t do this standing…” 

“Not many can.” TJ smiled. “Up to you, we’re letting you do this. As for me getting worn out, I’m just here for support. You wanted hands off, the most I’ll do if allowed is to at least get baby cleaned up, then give them right back to you.” 

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Brandon smiled, breathing slowly as he made his way to the couch, turning so his feet were against the coffee table. He carefully removed his shorts before tossing them aside, laughing as they landed in the laundry basket.

“I’ll get you new shorts after this. “ Patrick grinned. “I know where they are. So… we ready to meet baby?” 

“I’m ready if everyone else is.” Brandon smiled, shifting his weight slightly to get ready for what would hopefully be a relatively quick birth. “I’ll try not to scream.”

“Screaming is okay.” Jonathan replied, moving over with Patrick so they could be far enough back to not seem like they were crowding Brandon. “I’ll probably be hearing it very soon once it’s Patrick’s turn, birth isn’t easy.” 

TJ nodded, checking his phone as discreetly as he could before looking over at the small group. “You got this, it will hurt of course. But you’ll have an adorable baby to show for it.”

Brandon nodded, taking a deep breath before pushing as hard as he could while holding onto the couch cushions. He put his head back, feeling a few tears forming in his eyes as he tried to get his composure.

“That was good. A few more like that and baby will be here before we know it.” Jonathan smiled, trying to stay a quiet as possible in case his teammate didn’t want anyone giving him the play by play.

“Hope so…” Brandon spoke softly, shifting a little before pushing again, this time crying out as he felt the head starting to move along with a not so good burning sensation. “Not a good feeling…”

“You’re almost there.” TJ spoke carefully, staying back with Jonathan and Patrick, but he could see enough of what was going on just in case he had to step in. “Baby’s crowning, but the head should be out in the next push.” 

“Hurts like hell…” Brandon replied, taking another deep breath before repeating the process, pushing a little harder than he meant to, but he felt the head and part of the shoulders come out. He couldn’t help but cry out loudly with that feeling, almost like he was being torn in half. 

“Can you reach down?” TJ asked softly. “You can get the shoulders and help baby out yourself. I swear, most of you are having easy births… now I’m more scared for mine.”

“You’ll do fine…” Brandon smiled a little, very carefully moving to reach down and gently holding the baby by its shoulders. Slowly helping it out before leaning back against the couch, putting his hand on the newborn’s slimy back. 

“And there were a few complications. But I think those of us that waited to do what our bodies said, even if we were being stubborn like a certain person we will not name… it was easier because the baby was already pretty much out, or very close.” Patrick smiled. “So I’m sure it will go well, and if not you’ll have a Penguin contingent on your side.” 

TJ laughed, smiling as he cut the cord before handing a towel to Brandon. He made sure to take care of the afterbirth before putting it in a bowl. “You make it sound like the entire team is coming. They may tolerate me because I somehow became friends with Malkin and Crosby, possibly Tanger. But the others not so much.” 

“Their loss.” Brandon smiled, gingerly moving so he was lying all the way on the couch with the newborn cuddled up on his chest. “Well aren’t you being adorable? I bet you’re tired… had a long trip.” 

TJ just smiled softly, moving back hesitantly. “Very adorable. I bet babies get as tired as the mommy does, they have to take a long trip to the outside.” 

“We’ll get pictures, don’t worry. Now you go and take care of yourself, I don’t want to hear about anything bad happening to you from anyone. You don’t deserve anything else happening, at least nothing bad.” Brandon nodded before watching TJ head out of the room. 

5pm

“Missing dinner? You should eat; you need more than just bacon and a piece of toast to keep you together.” Connor frowned, propping himself up against the pillow. “And the bacon here isn’t even that good.”

“They actually cooked it this morning so…” TJ laughed. “I told you that I’m not leaving. You’re the last one. I got a muffin earlier, so I should be okay. If you feel up for it after the baby is born I’ll go and get you some food, I think they brought pizza again.”

“And we saw what happened after that.” Connor smiled, resting his hand over his belly. “But if it’s after baby is born there shouldn’t be any problem. I still think they had some sort of labor inducing things in it.”

“It was a weird coincidence wasn’t it? I’m going to try and let things happen on their own. It’s weird really… I don’t even know what it feels like before it actually starts. Like is everything normal then all of a sudden your body is like ‘Nope, I’m done. Let’s get things going’ and the contractions start up?” TJ sighed, but offered a smile toward the other. 

“It just happens at weird times. I was asleep, and then when I woke up I felt weird. Like I knew something was happening, but couldn’t figure out what it was. Then the contractions started, it wasn’t like strong ones at the start, but sort of like when you pull a muscle. A small ache, then it goes away. Then it comes back.” Connor replied, breathing out slowly.

“And then it gets unbearable. “ TJ spoke softly, looking over at Andre before turning his attention back to Connor.

“Unbearable is an understatement.” Andre frowned, turning his attention to his friend. “But we don’t want to scare you; you’ve seen all of us so far at the worst part of labor. But if Connor is lucky he won’t have to get cut open. I’m still a little sore, but I can walk upright now.”

“I’m more scared for the delivery and the worst part of labor than the start of it. Although if I’m being honest, the whole thing does terrify me a little. Like I know everything is going to be okay, but if the contractions are as bad as the miscarriage pain…” TJ replied. 

“Probably a little worse. Not that we’d know for comparison, and I’m sorry that happened to you. But you’ll be fine. You know what to expect by now, and you just do what you feel comfortable with when the time comes. Plus there are rumors going around that you’ll have help.” Connor smiled, carefully shifting his weight. 

“Do you want us to check you? Or do you want to do this on your own?” Andre asked, seeing that the other was a little more uncomfortable than earlier in the day. “Of course we’ll let you pick the position you want to be in.” 

“It’s a little more uncomfortable, but I don’t feel pressure yet. Just getting to the holy crap why do I want no painkillers stage.” Connor chuckled softly. 

“But we can still check, see where baby is. Like if we have another hour, or if they’re close to the exit. That way we can get ready to welcome them into the world.” TJ smiled.

“Alright.” Connor nodded, leaning back against the pillow before letting the two friends see what was going on. “But I’m actually tolerating this better than I thought I would… how did Matthews do?”

“TJ tell me he was in denial, didn’t want someone else helping him with the baby. He stubborn and a jackass.” Andre sighed, shaking his head. “Would have paid Gabe to toss him out the window.”

TJ laughed, carefully checking Connor. “Oh he would have. If I wasn’t pregnant I would have beaten him to it. I don’t understand why he was so irritating… unless there were some hidden motives.”

“Maybe.” Connor spoke softly. “Knowing him… he was probably under the spell of Bettman and wanted to do no wrong. Did he know about the miscarriage?”

“Oh hell no. There were people I didn’t tell, and he’s one of them. That would have been more fuel to the fire, and more reason for us to hide out when it came to delivery time. At least he knew better than to mess with the Boston boys… no one wants to mess with Marchand or Chara if they got wind of Matthews being irritating to their partners.” TJ sighed, but looked up at Connor. “You’re at 7, so pretty close. If you want to walk the halls to move things along, we’ll be happy to go with you.” 

“Alright, just hope your baby doesn’t get the same idea.” Connor grinned, sitting up before slowly moving around to stand up from the bed. “I don’t think they can take two of us in labor walking the hallway.”

“Even if it did, it would be early stages for me. You’re trying to get to the delivery stage.” TJ smiled, moving to open Connor’s door before stepping out into the hallway. So far no one else was around, so that made him feel a little better. 

“Maybe we’ll run into your friends.” Andre spoke up, moving to Connor’s other side. “You still have friends here Connor?”

“A handful, but most everyone is gone. That’s fine with me, I have you two. And TJ will have some friends come in soon too. I think we’re all set.” Connor replied, walking slowly down the hall halfway before stopping, breathing slowly with what felt like a really intense contraction. “Not ready for this…”

“You’ll be fine.” Andre smiled, rubbing his back once Connor stopped to lean against the wall. “You already doing better than me. I couldn’t have my baby like you and TJ can. We’ll see him or her soon, I promise.” 

Connor nodded, breathing slowly. “Don’t want baby born here that much I do know…” 

“They won’t be. We’ll walk for a little more, and then if you feel like things are happening we’ll move back to your room and get ready. Sound like a deal?” TJ asked, offering his hand. 

“Not breaking your hand TJ…” Connor smiled, soon continuing down the hall slowly. “I’ll use the blankets or something else to hold onto in the room. Besides, it would be hard to hold your own baby if your hand was broken.” 

“Not really, but I get your point.” TJ replied, walking along with Connor and Andre. “Picking them up will be harder, but I can still hold them.”

“Smart ass.” Connor laughed as they headed to the hallway that led to the other rooms. He turned around and went back down the hallway they were currently on that led back to his room and a few others. 

“How are you feeling?” Andre asked, looking over at his friends. Or at least one friend and the other was a fellow player. But he was in the same division as Connor so… maybe at least division friends, or acquaintances. 

“Me? Definitely feeling it more…” Connor replied before stopping suddenly, putting his hand on the wall. He gasped lightly before closing his eyes, breathing out as he put one hand on his belly. “How far are we from my room? I think baby dropped…” 

“Walking definitely helped. We’re not that far, just two doors left.” TJ replied, letting Andre move ahead while he put his arm around Connor’s waist. “We’ll get you situated once we get back inside.”

\-----

“What time is it?” Connor asked, carefully getting himself situated on the bed having already removed his shorts and undergarments. 

“Hmm? Oh it’s a little after 6:30 now. So baby will probably be here by 7 judging by now uncomfortable you are, and the fact you’re already doing some light pushes.” TJ smiled, making sure to get everything set up. 

“Damn you’re good… how can you tell?” Connor spoke, getting the pillows behind him before finally finding a position he felt comfortable in. “I was just trying to get some of the pain to stop, figured that would help a little.”

“When you stopped in the hallway I could tell, you paused before speaking. And you were doing it just now too.” TJ replied, bringing over blankets and other things needed. “But if you feel intense pressure, I want you to push harder okay? The small ones help get things opened up, but won’t bring baby out.” 

Connor just smiled, looking up at TJ. “I know you’re scared, but you’ve helped all of us… and you know what to expect. I bet you’ll do the best out of all of us with this.”  
Andre chuckled softly, getting a water bottle for later on. “We’ll see, now let’s meet that baby of yours. Just hope your dog likes babies.”

Connor chuckled softly, feeling nervous but knew that he couldn’t hold up progress much longer. “That’s no problem... He loves everyone.”

TJ smiled, getting the supplies set up before moving to the end of the bed. “Alright, you know what to do.” 

Connor nodded, taking a deep breath before pushing as hard as he could, moving his hands back behind him. He held it as long as he could before breathing out, feeling a few tears fall down his cheeks.

“Very good, just like that.” TJ smiled, carefully moving Connor’s legs a little further apart. 

“You okay?” Andre frowned, noticing TJ’s expression had changed slightly but still had a smile on his face. 

Connor breathed slowly before repeating the process, relaxing and leaning back against the pillows before pushing a little harder, adding some force behind it. Soon feeling a not so pleasant burning sensation and more pressure. “Okay… this hurts…”

“It will, the hardest part is coming up. But you are doing really well. Relax, take a breather then push as hard as you can, the head and shoulders will probably come with it. And if I can get the shoulders I’ll help baby out.” TJ replied, glancing over at Andre. “Yeah, I’m okay.” 

Connor did as he was told, leaning back against the bed to relax for a few moments. He looked up at the ceiling before remembering he had a bigger job to do, so he pushed much harder with the latest contraction, all but screaming as he felt the head and shoulders come out with the rest of the baby following as he shifted his weight. 

“Oh my goodness… yeah you really wanted out didn’t you?” TJ smiled, watching the baby come out all of the way before tying off the cord and cutting it. He handed the newborn to Andre before he went to take care of the afterbirth. “I’ll have Anya or Steve come in to get you cleaned up and check out your baby boy. But he looks really healthy, and has a good set of lungs if you can hear him.” 

“Only 3 left… well of the ones that were due this month. I bet your baby is going to be the hold out.” Connor smiled tiredly, watching TJ take care of the afterbirth and put it into a plastic bowl. “But I want you to go and rest. You look worn out.”

“I plan on it. I told Sid and Geno to knock when they get here, or to call me. I’ll look forward to baby updates.” TJ smiled, turning to head out of the room before putting his hand on his back. He sighed softly, walking out with Andre before closing the door behind him.

“Okay, I know you’re hiding something. And you aren’t good at that, I remember your shoulder.” Andre frowned, following TJ to his room. “I have to check on my baby, but I want you to be honest. Are you in labor now? If you are I’m telling Nicky to forget the game and come here for his husband.”

“I told him to play. And I don’t know if I am or not… I don’t feel anything painful, but it’s like a weird tight sensation then it goes away. Is that how it starts?” TJ frowned lightly. “Besides, if I am it will be awhile.” 

Andre just smiled, watching his friend as he walked into the room. “Just rest okay? Don’t want to text Nicky and say you aren’t following directions. I’m sure I’ll see you tomorrow, and we’ll see if baby wants to meet everyone then.” 

TJ laughed, but smiled softly toward Andre as he went to relax on the bed. “Oh I know… it might end up being between former rivals. We’ll see right? I’ll see you tomorrow, try and get some sleep yourself if you can.” 

Andre nodded, smiling toward TJ before he turned to head out of the room. He hoped that the other would be okay, considering everything he had been through not that long ago. He also wondered when the other babies would arrive, he knew only time would tell.


End file.
